Seventh grader Zhuha Abid made her way through 19 grueling rounds to win the Locust Valley Middle School Spelling Bee on Dec. 15.
Thirty-two students spanning from grades six to eight qualified by winning their classroom spelling bees. After two hours, Abid was the final student standing after spelling her championship word “Albuquerque” correctly.
Abid and runner-up Quinn Creedon, a sixth grader, managed to spell challenging words like “meitnerium,” “retinitis pigmentosa” and “tetrazzini” correctly as they advanced through the competition.
The two students will now move on to a written round of the competition to be announced by Scripps at a later date.