Seneca Falls’ Chandak bows out of spelling bee

Seneca Falls eighth-grader, Neetu Chandak, learned at 5:30 p.m. Thursday that she was among 48 of the contest’s 273 spellers who advanced to Friday’s semifinal round. Chandak scored 29 points out of 31 in a computer test Wednesday and two oral rounds Thursday to advance to Friday’s competition.Late in the first round, early Friday afternoon, Neetu mispelled the word “paravane”. She spelled it “perovane” and was temporarily eliminated until her mother pointed out to judges, that they had given the incorrect origin of the word. This gave Neetu second life but she also mispelled her next word, “apogalacteum” and was officially eliminated from the competition.Chandak was one of two New York spellers to advance to the semifinals. The other being Arvind Mahankali, a fifth-grader from Forest Hills.From everyone here at FingerLakes1.com, congratulations to Neetu on yet another great run. You’ve made Seneca Falls and the entire Finger Lakes region proud!