INDIANAPOLIS — Six students from Indiana are traveling to National Harbour, Maryland, to compete in the Scripps National Spelling Bee.
In total, 245 spellers will take part in the competition, which begins on Tuesday.
Indiana's spellers include Reid Shaw, of Bloomington, Achyut Ethiraj, of Fort Wayne, Miah Miller, of Carmel, Sharanya Kar, of Lafayette, Leo Furlong, of Muncie and Nolan Roule, of Wanatah.
Three of the spellers from Indiana competed in the Scripps National Spelling Bee last year.
Ethiraj tied for 23rd place, Kar tied for 74th place and Shaw tied for 173rd place.
WRTV interviewed the four spellers from central Indiana.
Shaw reflected on his first trip to the Scripps National Spelling Bee.
"It was a lot of fun. I got to meet some really cool people, I met Dr. Bailey and took a picture with him," Shaw said. "It's awesome being on that stage because I've watched it on TV since I was like seven-years-old, and I never would have imagined that I would actually be up there in real life. So, it was a really cool experience."
"I'm pretty excited. I've been studying a lot," Miller said. "So, I feel pretty ready with all of the materials that they've been giving me. I'm just excited to like be in D.C. for Bee Week."
"It was amazing. It was just so surreal," Kar said. "I would like to win, but I hope that the most deserving person wins."
"I mean, it feels really good because Muncie isn't really that big of a town. It's good to represent it in a national competition," Furlong said.
Every round of the spelling bee will air on ION Plus, which is available on streaming platforms.
The semifinals and finals will air live on May 29 and 30 on ION.
Go to spellingbee.com to learn how to find ION in your area. Scripps is the parent company of WRTV.
