Spelling Bees Are Trendier Than Science Fairs
A new documentary seeks to drum up more mainstream attention for STEM competitions.
To be nerdy these days is to be cool. Pop culture’s adoration of nerds is ubiquitous in this era of high-tech gadgets. You can see it everywhere from The Big Bang Theory to The Bachelorette to the Scripps National Spelling Bee, the latter of which is broadcast on ESPN.
Which is why it’s curious that competitions like the (ISEF)—whose contestants each year vie for more than $5 million total in prizes, including for the top winner—haven’t quite captured the public imagination. That may soon change. A follows a handful of teens who participated in last year’s ISEF, who managed to help nine of her students qualify for the competition.
