CINCINNATI — Sharonville student Emily Castilla finished in 149th place at the 2024 Scripps National Spelling Bee, ending her time after misspelling "mah-jongg" in the third round.
Older siblings can have a profound impact on your life and in the case of 13-year-old Emily, her brother's spelling spotlight helped her find her passion.
While getting ready for the preliminary round of the Bee, Emily spent about an hour each day studying 100 words per session.
She said she has a notebook for reinforcement.
"If I get a word wrong, or even if I don't, even if it's just challenging, I will write it down because writing down helps you remember," Emily said.
So you might wonder, was she nervous about the national stage? Intimidated? Excited?
"It doesn't really intimidate me, because I feel like once I'm there, it's not going to be that pressurizing," she said. "We're just going to all be competing for this one goal. But we're still going to be friends.'
Sebastian, Emily's brother, made it to the third finals rounds at the Bee in 2019.
"He always had like a passion for words and I did too, because I love to read," she said. "So, once I realized that we had similar interests, I started to know that I wanted to do spelling as well."
While she hoped to be the winner, Emily said the most important thing would be the friends she makes. She also said the trip would be a valuable experience that other students can prepare for.
"It's not that hard to learn if you practice a lot," she said. "And then after a while, it just kind of comes naturally to you. How to spell words can be very fun."
You can learn more about the contestants here.
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