Westview Middle School boy competing in national spelling bee
Lowcountry Spellbound! champion Ian Bongalonta is competing in the 2012 Scripps National Spelling Bee, which starts today in Washington, D.C.
Ian, a rising eighth-grader at Westview Middle School, is sponsored by The Post and Courier.
The son of Franco and Ma Paz Bongalonta of Goose Creek, he outspelled 50 Lowcountry students at regional bee March 22.
The 278 participants in the Washington bee come from all 50 states and from as far away as China, Japan and Ghana. They will be whittled down to the top 50 for the semifinals.
The preliminaries will be broadcast on ESPN3.com from 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Wednesday. The Semifinals will air on ESPN-2 at 10 a.m. Thursday, with the finals at 8 p.m. on ESPN.
Comments { }
Postandcourier.com is pleased to offer readers the enhanced ability to comment on stories. We expect our readers to engage in lively, yet civil discourse. Postandcourier.com does not edit user submitted statements and we cannot promise that readers will not occasionally find offensive or inaccurate comments posted in the comments area. Responsibility for the statements posted lies with the person submitting the comment, not postandcourier.com. If you find a comment that is objectionable, please click "report abuse" and we will review it for possible removal. Please be reminded, however, that in accordance with our Terms of Use and federal law, we are under no obligation to remove any third party comments posted on our website. Read our full Terms and Conditions.