Rehoboam. Kaneelhart. Emblema.
Could you spell these words – or even recognize them – if you heard them?
Oak Grove Middle School eighth-grader Yolanda Ni did, pushing her way to the top 16 spellers Thursday in the Scripps National Spelling Bee’s 92nd annual championship finals.
“Honestly, I want to be able to represent Mississippi to the best of my ability,” Ni said in March after she won the state spelling bee championship. “It doesn’t feel real yet – it’s such a big experience.”
It’s real now, with Ni moving from one of the 11 million that started the competition some eight months ago to 565 spellers who made it to nationals and now to the top 16. Ni and the other contestants can be seen in the continuing competition at 7:30 p.m. tonight on ESPN.
The grand prize is $40,000 cash and a Scripps National Spelling Bee engraved trophy, along with a $2,500 savings bond from Mirriam-Webster.
In addition to the three aforementioned head-scratching words, Ni – who has been assigned Number 257 in the competition – also correctly spelled hexenbesen, midewiwin and blottesque at Thursday’s event.
After her performance in the afternoon, she received several encouraging tweets from supporters around the country. One in particular came from Laura Kessel, editor of “The Review” in Alliance, Ohio.
“#speller257 Yolanda Ni of Mississippi spells way too fast. But she’s correct here with Midewiwin. @ScrippsBee #spellingbee."
Another came from the Scripps National Spelling Bee account, which took a small jab at Ni’s prediction of an early elimination.
“Remember when #speller257 Yolanda Ni said that it wouldn’t be long before she was eliminated? We see right through you, Yolanda ;) Great job on the word ‘hexenbesen’ #spellingbee.”
And for those who were wondering the definition of at least one of those words: Rehoboam – according to the Hebrew Bible – was the fourth king of Israel.
