The bee begins

Fri, May 30, 2008 - 9:55 AM

11:04 a.m.

When I coached at the national level in 2005, Kavya Shivashankar was a little girl who came with Jack and Jill Magazine as a student reporter. She wasn't an actual speller, but she was in Washington for the entire week as part of a contest for younger students.

We had a chance to quiz her, and she was quite impressive then. Look for her to do great things today.

Chris McKendry has the same "favorites" as us in her opening telecast. Notice Matthew Evans, Tia Thomas, and Shivashankar today. Watch Akshat Shekhar as well as a "dark horse".

-Josh Dawsey