NEWBURGH – Eli McNair, a student at South Middle School, is headed to the prestigious National Scripps Spelling Bee in May in Washington, D.C.
McNair will compete against 200 spellers from around the world at the event, which will be held from May 26-31. He won the Regional Spelling Bee last month to qualify for the national event. McNair competed against 25 students from Orange County school districts at the regional event.
Students were selected to compete regionally after earning the top scores in their classroom Bee, via a blind spelling test. Words included in the middle school Regional Spelling Bee included: propitious, perpendicularity, incandescent, grotesqueness, and the winning word – acuity.
McNair studied keywords before the Regional Bee but said he is a naturally good speller.
“I think it’s important to know what you’re thinking of and what you’re speaking about,” McNair said. “When you write about things, you have more confidence in your thoughts and how you’re expressing yourself when you aren’t second-guessing your spelling. I think this competition will help me in the future because I know I can achieve something like this, and it may help my future career and acceptance to college.”
Outside of the classroom, McNair enjoys listening to music, dancing, and gymnastics. He volunteers as a designer for his middle school yearbook. When he grows up, he wants to be an anesthesiologist, real estate agent, or principal cyber security professional.
The National Scripps Spelling Bee began in 1925 has been held every year except for 1943–1945 due to World War II and 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic.
