On Memorial Day weekend, 250 fourth through eighth graders will descend on National Harbor, Md., to compete in the 2014 Scripps National Spelling Bee. Eighth grader Liam Lustberg of South Burlington will be the only Vermonter. The Frederick H. Tuttle Middle School student earned the honor by beating 40 other contestants from across the state at the Vermont Spelling Bee last month. He went 26 rounds before clinching the title by correctly spelling the word “pogrom.” Definition: an organized massacre. Lustberg prepared for the state bee by practicing words for 15 minutes with his parents during dinner each day. He admits he thought he had a chance of being crowned state champ but was still pretty surprised. “It honestly felt a little surreal,” he said. “When I won I was actually thinking, Is this happening?“
Liam Lustberg: The Vermont Spelling Bee champion is headed to the Scripps National Spelling Bee on May 27-29 in National Harbor, Md. Find more information at spellingbee.com.
This article was originally published in Seven Days’ monthly parenting magazine, Kids VT.
This article appears in The Money Issue April 2014 (Kids VT).
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