FL Student Wins Scripps National Spelling Bee

OXON HILL, MD — A-b-s-e-i-l. Abseil. The winning word Thursday in the 2024 Scripps National Spelling Bee held at National Harbor.

Bruhat Soma, a 12-year-old from St. Petersburg, is the newest national spelling bee champion. Soma, who found himself competing in the bee's second-ever spell-off, represented the Rays Baseball Foundation and Rowdies Soccer Fund.

The Turner/Bartels K-8 School seventh grader improved his run with the bee, winning a year after he placed 74th in the 2023 bee and two years after he tied for 163rd place in the 2022 bee.

“I was pretty confident that I had a chance at winning because I’ve been working so hard,” Bruhat told the Associated Press. “And I really wanted to win. That’s why I practiced the spell-off so much.”

A nervous Soma bested contestant Faizan Zaki, a 12-year-old sixth grader from Dallas, Texas, when he spelled abseil - which means "a descent in mountaineering by means of a rope looped over a projection above."

"Bruhat is a multifaceted person with many interests and hobbies. He loves to play and watch basketball, and his favorite player is LeBron James. He also likes to play badminton and Ping-Pong, which clearly shows his passion for sports. Bruhat also has a passion for music, playing snare drum in his middle school band. Bruhat is an avid reader who will devour any book on which he can get his hands," read Soma's biography.

Other spellers from Florida that participated in this year's spelling bee were as follows:

• Claire Smith, of Deland, 13, seventh grade
• Nicasio David, of Fort Myers, 13, seventh grade
• Sree Vidya Siliveri, of Jacksonville, 13, seventh grade
• Camila Sanchez Izquierdo, of Miami, 13, eighth grade
• Jasmine Perez, of Miami, 11, fifth grade
• Rylan Wise, of Naples, 13, seventh grade
• Elvis Avetis, Orlando, 13, eighth grade
• Nathan Crabbendam, Orlando, 13, eighth grade
• Velvizhi Sethirayar, of Orlando, 11, sixth grade
• Amara Chepuri, of St. Petersburg, 11, fifth grade
• Jordin Oremosu, of St. Petersburg, 14, eighth grade
• Allie Winsor, Tallahassee, 13, eighth grade