Greenfield Student Headed to DC for National Spelling Bee

As a toddler, Elise Stahl was drawn to words. She could spell "stop" as her mom drove through rural Wright and Hennepin County to the family home in Greenfield. She was drawn to books and flash cards. She enjoyed talking...a lot.

Now, all of that might be paying off–to the tune of $30,000 cash and other prizes.

Just last month, 13-year-old Elise Stahl, was declared the winner of the seven-county metro area regional spelling bee at the Minnesota History Center. One of 49 spellers from public, private, charter and home schools she spent five and a half hours spelling and came out the champion.

Next month, Elise and her mom are headed to a week long trip to the nation's capital, where she'll compete against over 250 other champion spellers from around the country at the now famous SCRIPPS Spelling Bee.

Elise is part of the WEST (Wings Educational Services for Teens) network of homeschooled children, based in St. Michael. The program, which includes children from St. Michael, Albertville, Hanover and areas as far away as Maple Grove, has allowed Elise to make some good friends (and fellow competitors) here in St. Michael. Meetings are held in the old Parish Center, the building directly north of the , each week.

Elise first participated in a spelling bee in fifth grade when her mom suggested it.

"I've always loved words and spelling so it was fun for me. But I only made it to the multi-regionals then," she said.

This year though Elise not only made it past multi-regionals, she's on her way to nationals.

"My friends are excited too and keep asking me if I'm excited. I am, but I'm also nervous. [I guess] I'm excited and nervous at the same time," she said. Elise will compete amongst 250 other students, including at least two fellow Minnesota contestants.

"She's always loved words," her mom Mary said earlier this week. "Since she was a baby she's had great word orientation, spelling STOP at 2 years old in the car, talking a lot, loving words and reading. We shouldn't be surprised."

And of course, both Mary and her husband, Tim are very proud.

Elise and her younger sister are homeschooled in their Greenfield home by their mom, so they've been devoting a lot of time to practicing for the competition in DC.

SCRIPPS National Spelling Bee supplies lists of practice words for contestants to practice ahead of time. "It's over 1,300 words," Mary said.

While the spelling bee is a series of rounds, parts of it will be televised live on ESPN and Elise is contestant No. 129. If she wins the spelling bee, she'll come home with $30,000 plus other prizes.

While she's had to spell a lot of interesting and challenging words, the most interesting one so far that helped her win at state: pickelhaube.

"It's a German word for the spiked helmet," she explained. "P-i-c-k-e-l-h-a-u-b-e."