2 Alaskans advance in national spelling bee
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) - Two students from Alaska are flashing their spelling talents on the national level.
Homer middle schooler Majo Hernandez-Zamora and Fairbanks middle schooler Elden Wier are representing Alaska at the annual Scripps National Spelling Bee.
They are two of over 200 youth spellers from around the United States and other U.S. territories who are gathering in National Harbor, Maryland, this week to determine who is the best speller.
Hernandez attends Homer Middle School and Wier attends Cyberlynx School, a homeschool and correspondence program.
In the first round held Tuesday, Hernandez correctly spelled “ostium” to advance, while Wier correctly spelled “mozo” to continue on.
In Tuesday’s vocabulary round, Wier correctly defined “conundrum” as a hard puzzle or difficult problem, while Hernandez correctly defined “focaccia” as a type of bread to move on.
Both are among 183 kids still remaining in the competition, which is scheduled to wrap up Thursday night.
Hernandez won the Alaska state spelling bee title earlier this year on the way to making it to the national bee, while Wier is returning to the Scripps bee for a second straight year.
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