On Tuesday 293 of the country's best spellers began competing at the 2009 Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C.
Among them, 30 have older siblings or family members who also went to the national spelling bee.
One of those is a 12-year-old boy from Hyde Park, who’s hoping he's got the winning number.
"Are you ready to be stumped?""Yes.""Your word is porphyry "During morning announcements every other day at the Summit Country Day school, a word is pulled out of the "spelling stumpers" box – and seventh-grader Tino Delamerced is put on the hot seat.
" Porphyry."“Correct. Congratulations Tino. Good job.""He's amazing. We haven't been able to stump him yet and I don't know if we will,” said Allison Ely, a teacher at Summit Country Day.
Not even with this word?
'Neumonomicroscopicsiliconionsiathiosi"One of the longest words in the English language.
You guessed it. He didn't miss it. This is the school's way of participating in Tino's preparation for the national spelling bee.
"Any student's word Tino misses gets an out of uniform day and that's a big deal here,” said Skip Lynam, principal at Summit Country Day.
If Tino get the word at the national bee – the class gets an ice cream party.
"I feel like the whole school is supporting me and it's helping a lot,” said Tino.
And the pressure is on for Tino.
Kids at the school's chess club – which he helps teach – say he'll win.
“Oh! He's really smart,” said Aidan Gallagher, a classmate.
"Is he one of the smartest kids you know?"
"Probably THE smartest,” said Gallagher.
"He's a great kid and I think it's amazing that it runs in the family."
That's right, his sister, Anna, won the regional bee last year and came in an amazing 25th in the national bee.
Tino says finishing 24th or higher would be nice.
"Cuz she likes to say she's smarter,” said Tino. “But then I could say I'm the smarter one in the house."
As for spelling advice, Anna isn't giving any.
"I've told him this is all by the grace of God and he should be thankful to God,” said Anna.
And one more thing – or should we say one more Delamerced!
Remember this face. This is Tino's baby brother, Joseph, who's 9, and who may want to be a spelling champ someday, too.
"Maybe. Probably. Mostly likely,” said the nine-year-old.
His family says there is no pressure on any of them to spell. They have to want it themselves.
