Louisville student earns trip to 2024 Scripps National Spelling Bee
A Louisville teen has advanced to the 2024 Scripps National Spelling Bee, set for May 28-30 outside of Washington, D.C., one of 245 students competing for the national title.
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Zachary Rara, a 13-year-old seventh grader from Meyzeek Middle School, is one of six competitors from Kentucky in the upcoming spell-off, according to the 2024 spelling bee media guide. Others include Aarya Kiran Mehendale, 13, eighth grader at St. Paul Catholic School in Florence; Anna Theresa Mercy Greenwell, 14, eighth grader at John Paul II Catholic School in Hopkinsville; Ian Jie-Ming Gibson, 14, eighth grader at Bowling Green Junior High School in Bowling Green; Joshua Elijah Bullen, 13, seventh grader at Hopkinsville Middle School in Hopkinsville; and Oliviah Hope Braun, 12, sixth grader at Braun Homeschool Academy in Lexington.
The 2024 event marks the 96th occurrence of the Scripps National Spelling Bee, first introduced in 1925. The event was canceled during World War II and the COVID-19 pandemic. A boy and girl from Louisville won the first two competitions — Frank Neuhauser in 1925 and Pauline Bell in 1926. Only four Kentuckians have won the national spelling bee, the last was Marian Richardson of Louisville in 1938.
The Scripps National Spelling Bee will be held in in National Harbor, Maryland, and starts with preliminaries, May 28, followed by quarter- and semi-finals, May 29. The finals will be held from 8-10 p.m., May 30. It will be streamed on ION Plus, Bounce XL, Grit Xtra, Laff More and spellingbee.com.
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: 2024 Scripps National Spelling Bee: Louisville student to compete for national title
