Meet the Illinois Students Headed to the 2025 Scripps Spelling Bee

The Scripps National Spelling Bee is getting ready to kick off next week and Illinois is well represented in the proceedings.

Illinois Students Ready to Compete in National Spelling Bee

As a native Illinoisan, there's always a bit of rooting interest in anything someone from the state is doing on the national stage, at least that's always the case for me. You name it, if the person is from Chicago, Rockford, or my hometown, it's a bonus interest from me.

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The Scripps National Spelling Bee is no different when it comes to spellers to cheer on when the competition starts next week. There are 13 different competitors from Illinois participating, ranging from as young as 12 up to 14.

Read More: The Popular Adult Spelling Bee is Returning to Wisconsin

Full List of Illinois Spelling Bee Contestants:

• Beatriz Whitford-Rodriguez, 8th grade, 14 years old from Chicago
• Shruthi Ayyagari, 7th grade, 13 years old from Chicago
• Katie Park, 8th grade, 14 years old from Chicago
• Alanur Mescioglu, 7th grade, 13 years old from Chicago
• Brighid Reid, 7th grade, 13 years old from Dekalb
• Kavin Kumar Suriya Prakash, 8th grade, 14 years old from Edwards
• Mason Coulthard, 8th grade, 14 years old from Freeport
• Yahya Mohammed, 7th grade, 13 years old from Geneva
• Julia Kurien, 8th grade, 14 years old from Loves Park
• Tyler Kochanski, 8th grade, 14 years old from McHenry
• Arnav Sharma, 6th grade, 12 years old from Morris
• Parker Zimmerly, 8th grade, 14 years old from Sterling
• Visharara Sathish 7th grade, 12 years old from Vernon Hills

Past Spelling Bee Winners From Illinois

There have been two National Spelling Bee winners from Illinois with Ward Randall from White Hall in 1931 and Balu Natarajan from Chicago in 1985. Last year's winner, was Bruhat Soma from Florida. The winning word: abseil.

No joke, I had to look that word up to figure out what it meant.

Read More: The Inside of This Abandoned Illinois School May Give You Nightmares

When to Watch the Spelling Bee on TV

Preliminaries and quarterfinals for this year's spelling bee will be on Bounce XL on Tuesday, May 27, and Wednesday, May 28. The semifinals will be aired on ion, Wednesday, May 28 from 7p-9p CST and the finals on Thursday, May 29 from 7p-9p CST.