Nashua Student In National Spelling Bee

NASHUA, NH — C-H-A-M-P-I-O-N. Nashua student Amelia Ballingall likely will not see such an easy word in this week's National Spelling Bee finals but it is what the 13-year-old hopes to become. The 90th annual Scripps National Spelling Bee is being held Wednesday and Thursday in Maryland and Ballingall, a Nashua Catholic Regional Junior High School eighth-grader, is one of 291 finalists vying for the $40,000 grand prize.

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Ballingall earned a spot in the finals after winning the New Hampshire Union Leader spelling contest. She is the only New Hampshire student in the bee. In Round 2 Wednesday, she correctly spelled macchiato to advance in the competition.

"Amelia loves to read, and her favorites books are the Harry Potter series and the Percy Jackson & the Olympians series," her spelling bee biography reads. "She wants to become a writer when she grows up. Amelia also enjoys karate, soccer and the clarinet. She likes listening to music, and her favorite kinds are alternative and rock. She loves going on vacations to Orlando with her family."

The preliminary round is Wednesday from 8 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. It is being streamed on the WatchESPN service. The first round of finals is Thursday at 10 a.m. and it will be televised on ESPN2. The second round of finals is Thursday at 8 p.m. and it will be televised on ESPN.

Photo: Amelia Ballingall. (Credit: spellingbee.com)