One of my favorite spellers is Vanya Shivashankar.

Dev last competed in 2012 as a 5th grader and has returned as an 8th grader this year!

The Bee Keeper is one of my favorite bee traditions.

All the spellers received t-shirts at orientation along with a bag full of bee souvenirs.

Paige Kimble is the executive director of the Scripps National Spelling Bee.

Spellers collecting autographs in their Bee Keepers during orientation.

Early this morning, I left Louisville to begin my journey to the Scripps National Spelling Bee.

The main event today was a speller orientation at which we learned about the schedule of events and activities planned for the week. This was also my first opportunity to meet the other spellers and it was so exciting! I saw some familiar faces and met lots of new people. Being here among these amazing spellers reminded me of why I have studied so hard to qualify for the Bee again.

The most important thing that happened during orientation was that all of the spellers received their Bee Keepers! One of the great traditions of bee week is the Bee Keeper which is a picture book with fun facts about each speller. Collecting autographs of spellers in my book is my most favorite thing to do during the week!