the word explorer

Akash is the youngest speller this year; he’s six years old!

Orientation was the perfect place to start filling my Bee Keeper with autographs!

Spellers and their family members could decorate their name badges with colorful ribbons.

All spellers completed the six steps outlined in this poster.

There are two people named “Tara” at the bee this year!

Kindle Corner (for spellers only) includes a cereal bar, poster making station, and comfy beanbags to read our favorite books.

Getting autographs in my Bee Keeper is my favorite bee tradition.

Spellers signed the poster, forever commemorating the 2016 Scripps National Spelling Bee.

This morning, my family and I departed from Louisville, Kentucky and arrived in Washington D.C.

The main event today was a Spellebrity Welcome and speller orientation. This was my first opportunity to meet the other amazing spellers and it was so exciting! My favorite part was when I received my Bee Keeper, a picture book with interesting facts about each of the spellers. I am determined to get every speller’s autograph in my Bee Keeper this year!