Mt. Lebanon Student in National Spelling Bee Spells Word Correctly, Is Eliminated

Jeremy Pople, a twelve year old seventh grader at Mellon Middle School in Mt. Lebanon earned a spot in the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington D.C., and this morning he spelled his word correctly in the first round of the oral competition. Pople was asked to spell "kaiserdom" and after asking for the word's country of origin (Germany) he completed the spelling successfully. However, because the first round also includes a written exam, Pople's cumulative score was not high enough to get him to the second round. Pople said he wasn't nervous about competing or disappointed about the elimination, saying most first-time competitors at the national level are eliminated early. He says he'll be back next year.