Sixth grader prepares for national spelling bee — for the second year in a row

Elijah Elledge isn’t quite the same young man he used to be.

Last year at this time, Elledge was a fifth grader at Immanuel Lutheran School in Mankato when he advanced to the Scripps National Spelling Bee. This year, as a sixth grader, he once again won the South Central Service Cooperative Regional Spelling Bee to progress to the famous Washington, D.C., bee.

But he will likely fare better at the big bee this year, his mother said. The national bee begins with preliminary rounds May 28 and then closes with the finals, which conclude May 30.

“I predict he’ll make it through the first round this time,” Beki Elledge said of her son, who lost out last year in the first round when he was asked to spell the word potaufeu.

“I’m hoping he won’t be as nervous. I think he’ll be more relaxed and not as nervous up there. He’s been on the stage before. It’s just so different with the cameras, lighting and people announcing. I’m hoping he’s a little more relaxed and has fun with it.”

Twelve-year-old Elledge, along with 21 other fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth grade spellers from south-central Minnesota competed in February for a spot in the national bee. He advanced after correctly spelling the championship word: vanquish.

Wince, brethren and ripple are other words Elledge has spelled to get this far. He went eight rounds to win, and his favorite word, he said, is myoglobin.

“I studied a bit more than usual,” he said of advancing to the Scripps bee. “Like every day.”

He studies Latin with a tutor. And outside of studying spelling, Elledge said he enjoys playing instruments, including piano, clarinet, sax and bass guitar. He also plays basketball and Xbox.

Going with him to D.C. in May are his mother and sister. In winning a trip to the national bee, Elledge also was awarded a medal and a trophy along with getting subscriptions to Encyclopedia Britannica Online, Merriam-Webster Unabridged Online and Epic Family and Tynker coding classes.

“He’s just kind of naturally good with languages and reading, and spelling,” his mother said. “He’s always been good at it. He was an early reader and he really enjoys studying Latin, which I think really helps if you know the roots of words. It helps with that.

“This is all his thing,” she said. “If it’s something he really wants to pursue, he’ll study. It’s all on his own at this point. He looked up Latin tutors online and found one.”