The National Spelling Bee kicked off Wednesday with three Washington state students in the competition.
The contestants are 12-year-old Ayush Noori from Bellevue, 13-year-old Julia McCoy from Mount Vernon, and 14-year-old Ashley Marie Blakemore from Omak.
According to the Scripps National Spelling Bee:
- Of the 285 spellers, 117 speak more than one language.
- This year's group of competitors is 51 percent girls and 49 percent boys.
- The spellers range in age from 9 to 15 years old, but more than 80 percent are between the ages of 12 and 14.
- Last year the winning word was feuilleton. The French word means a part of a newspaper devoted to material designed to entertain the reader.
The competition wraps up Thursday.
KIRO
