WASHINGTON – A Martha’s Vineyard 5th grader saw a run at the Scripps National Spelling Bee come to an end Wednesday.
Jasper Ralph fell just short of the finals after missing out on the correct spelling of “statistician.”
Ralph, a student at the West Tisbury school, made it to round 3 of the tournament after correctly spelling faiblesse, a French term for weakness, on Tuesday.
The 11 year old from Aquinnah earned a trip to Washington by winning the Martha’s Vineyard spelling bee back in March.
Ralph was one of 519 children to make the tournament and one of only 7 from Massachusetts.
41 participants made the finals, which start Thursday.