Schuylkill spelling champ leaves Sunday, faces stiff competition in Scripps National Spelling Bee
FRACKVILLE — Seu Ming Kim’s advice to her 12-year-old son Daniel on how to become America’s greatest speller — think before you answer.
Daniel, Schuylkill County’s top speller, and his mother leave their Frackville home on Sunday for the 2024 Scripps National Spelling Bee.
A seventh grader at Assumption BVM parochial school in Pottsville, Daniel will go up against 244 regional spelling champions from across the country vying for the coveted title of national spelling champion.
The spelling bee starts Tuesday and concludes Thursday at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center in Maryland.
Daniel won the 68th Schuylkill County Spelling Bee in March at D.H.H. Lengel Middle School, earning him a spot in the national bee. A regional competition, it included 39 students from schools across the county.
Daniel has been working with his coach, Jacqui Urban, spelling coach at Assumption BVM, to prepare for the national competition. He also finds time each day at home to brush up on difficult words he’s never heard of before.
“I’ve been studying every day,” Daniel said Saturday. “Some of the words are pretty hard.”
Regional spelling bee champions receive a free one-year subscription to the Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary online for use as a study guide. Word Club, the bee’s premiere study tool, has lists of words to study as well.
Scripps advises regional champions to start studying early, develop a study plan and get ready mentally. It also encourages reading, urging competitors to stay positive.
Diane Kim, Daniel’s older sister, said he is studying the Greek or Latin roots of words.
“Word roots give you clues to its meaning,” she said. “With difficult words, knowing the root allows you to piece the spelling together.”
Diane, a senior at MMI Preparatory School in Freeland, placed second in the 2020 Schuylkill County Spelling Bee.
A quiet, studious-looking boy, Daniel correctly spelled “managerial” to fend off a challenge from runner-up Journey Randolph, a fifth grader at the North Schuylkill Elementary.
Under Scripps rules, a competitor must spell two consecutive words correctly to become regional champion. The other word that earned Daniel the championship was “traumatic.”
At the national bee, Daniel will face stiff competition from regional champions.
Scripps says the field of 245 competitors is the largest since 2019, and includes six former finalists and three four-time national participants.
Michael Kim, Daniel’s father, credited his son’s ability to spell words to his love of reading.
A vice president at Lee’s Oriental Gourmet Foods in Shenandoah, the elder Kim is unable to accompany his son to the national championship because of prior commitments.
Still, he had some advice for Daniel — just enjoy yourself, and listen to your mother.
Preliminaries will be streamed on ION Plus starting at 8 a.m. Tuesday. Quarterfinals will air at 8 a.m. Wednesday, followed by semifinals at 2:30 p.m. later that day.
The finals air live on ION from 8 to 10 p.m. Thursday.
