Troy Student in 2016 Scripps National Spelling Bee

Eleven Michigan spellers are among 285 who will be attempting to spell harder words as they compete for a bigger cache of prizes in the 2016 Scripps National Spelling Bee, which gets under way Tuesday in National Harbor, MD, and continues through Thursday.

The spellers are among the best of the best, ranking among the top 0.000026 percent of the more than 11 million students who participated in local events.

They come from all 50 states and the District of Columbia, American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Department of Defense Schools in Europe. Eleven spellers represent the Bahamas, Canada, Ghana, Jamaica, Japan and South Korea.

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The spellers from Michigan are:

• Maria Liberty Fields (Speller No. 116), 13, an eighth grader at Grosse Pointe Academy, Grosse Pointe Farms;
• Aiden Mischley (Speller No. 117), 13, an eighth grader at Northern Hills Middle School, Grand Rapids;
• Zander T. Worm (Speller No. 118), 12, a seventh grader at Washington Middle School, Calumet;
• Leila Overbeek (Speller No. 119), 10, a fifth grader at Lakeview Middle School, Battle Creek;
• John N. Ciurla (Speller No. 120), 14, an eighth grader at Imlay City Middle School, Imlay City;
• Deven Akash Sheth (Speller No. 121), 13, an eighth grader at St. Thecla Catholic School, Clinton Township;
• Divya Aggarwal (Speller No. 122), 14, an eighth grader at Smith Middle School, Troy;
• Bhanu Teja Mamillapalli (Speller No. 123), 10, a seventh grader at Saginaw Arts and Sciences Academy, Saginaw;
• Mir Quddus (Speller No. 124), 13, an eighth grader at Upton Middle School, Saint Joseph;
• Casey Patrick Donahue (Speller No. 125), 13, a seventh grader at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Middle School, Traverse City; and
• Hailey Hogenson (Speller No. 275), 14, an eighth grader at Mason County Central Middle School, Scottville.

Where, When to Watch on TV

Spellers will be on the stage for the first time on Wednesday, May 25, after Tuesday’s preliminary round.

Here’s the schedule (all times Eastern Daylight Time, all broadcasts are live):

Wednesday

• 8-11:45 a.m.: Preliminaries (ESPN3)
• 1:15-4:45 p.m: Preliminaries, announcement of finalists (ESPN3)

Thursday

• 10 a.m. -2 p.m.: Finals (ESPN2)
• 8-10 p.m.: Finals (ESPN)

Social Media

Also, follow the behind-the-scenes action on social media. The Scripps National Spelling Bee is a two-time winner of the Nielsen weekly Twitter TV ratings for the last week in May.

On the Web

More about the spelling bee, including profiles of each speller and round results and regular competition updates is found at spellingbee.com. The website also has an archive of past winners and their winning words, a sample test and other information.

Images: Counterclockwise from lower right — hall of champions, Divya Aggarwal, Maria Liberty Fields and Deven Akash Sheth. (Mark Bowen/Scripps National Spelling Bee)