13 Illinois Students Are In This Year’s National Spelling Bee

I don't know what your plans are, but a coworker of mine actually takes off a couple of days each year to watch (and wager heavily on with his friend-group) the Scripps National Spelling Bee. Seriously, they "draft" kids and bet on them.

If you haven’t watched a spelling bee in a while, prepare yourself. The spelling bees most of us remember from school were usually pretty straightforward. You’d get words like “neighbor,” “vacation,” or maybe “restaurant” if your teacher was feeling particularly cruel that day.

The modern-day Scripps National Spelling Bee is an entirely different universe.

Today’s contestants are spelling words pulled from Greek, Latin, Sanskrit, German, French, and languages some of us have never even heard of. These kids aren’t just memorizing words anymore. They’re studying word origins, linguistic patterns, pronunciation rules, and vocabulary meanings like miniature college professors. And now, 13 students from Illinois are preparing to take on the toughest spelling competition in the country next week.

Let's Meet Some Of The Illinois Students Taking Part This Year

One local name that especially caught my attention was 14-year-old Ananya Joshi, an eighth grader at Roscoe Middle School near Rockford. This isn’t even her first trip to the national stage. Ananya also competed in the Scripps National Spelling Bee back in 2024, and spelling excellence clearly runs in the family because her sister Avani previously finished seventh nationally in 2021.

The full Illinois lineup for this year’s National Spelling Bee includes Seraj Zerhouni of Chicago, Kirsten Credenza of Burbank, Kingston McGhee of University Park, Brighid Reid of Somonauk, Grant Karberg of Galena, Yahya Mohammed of Elgin, Ananya Joshi of Roscoe, Vinny Brendel of Riverside, Bridget Isaacs of Oswego, Isa Zaid of Peoria, Cindy Pelka of Morrison, Aditi Mopur of Barrington, and Shruthi Ayyagari of Aurora.

The National Spelling Bee Has Been Going On For Over 100 Years

The Scripps National Spelling Bee dates all the way back to 1925 and has become one of America’s longest-running academic competitions. It’s survived everything from the Great Depression to World War II (except for being cancelled during some of the war years) and now attracts elite young spellers from across the globe.

And honestly, after seeing some of the championship words from recent years (things like “cheiropompholyx” and “phthirophagous”), I’m pretty sure most adults would be eliminated before the opening commercial break.

Especially the ones who drink beer and wager on which kid will win it all.