Su Hlaing of Gaithersburg, Montgomery County’s regional spelling champ, successfully competed to the quarterfinals of the 2024 Scripps National Spelling Bee but will not advance to the semifinals.
Wednesday morning, Hlaing, a student at St. Peter’s School in Olney, incorrectly spelled latifondo, a large farm or agricultural estate in Italy.
#Speller95 Su Hlaing from Maryland has spelled the word latifondo incorrectly. https://t.co/mMAhQcxt0V #spellingbee
— Scripps National Spelling Bee (@ScrippsBee) May 29, 2024
“I expected not to go all the way,” she said, adding she was glad she was successful in the preliminary rounds. “I would have been embarrassed” if she lost that early in the competition, she told MCM.
She is eligible to compete again, but she’ll have to win the regional competition first. She plans to try again and, in the meantime, will “study more root words.”
While the national bee was held on a large stage and televised, Hlaing said it really wasn’t scarier than any other spelling bee. “It’s like a more televised school bee,” she said.
This was Hlaing’s first appearance at the national bee. 248 students made it that far. Only 148 students emerged from the preliminary rounds, meaning the seventh grader bested about 40% of her competitors.
Six of those competitors were finalists in previous Scripps National Spelling Bees.
Gaithersburg's Su Hlaing was tripped up in the quarterfinals. Congratulations for going this far…@mymcmedia @ScrippsBee
— suzanne pollak (@SuzannePollak) May 29, 2024
