Syosset eighth-grader Rika Mizoguchi, champion of the fifth-annual Hofstra Long Island Regional Spelling Bee, is competing on May 26 at the Scripps National Spelling Bee. Mizoguchi will be among 285 spellers to compete for the title of 2016 Scripps National Spelling Bee Champion and the students range from 6-15 years-old. The Scripps National Spelling Bee will take place at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in National Harbor, MD. The preliminaries begin Wednesday, May 25, and the finals take place Thursday, May 26, starting at 10 a.m. The rounds will be broadcast on ESPN.
Mizoguchi, 13, a student at Harry B. Thompson Middle School, is Speller no. 155 in the national bee. She aspires to be a paleontologist one day and said her favorite word is “dinosaur.”
Mizoguchi won at Hofstra on March 13 with the word “adnate” after competing in 17 grueling rounds at the John Cranford Adams Playhouse.
