Meet Kentucky's Two 2016 Scripps National Spelling Bee Contestants

rbramblet

The Scripps National Spelling Bee has a storied history with the state of Kentucky. In the first 14 years of the Bee, Kentucky boasted four champions including Frank Neuhauser, who won the very first competition in 1925 with the word Gladiolus. The other three Spelling Bee Champions from Kentucky, all hailing from Louisville, won on the words Cerise - a bright or deep red color (1926 - Pauline Bell), Promiscuous (1937 - Waneeta Beckley) & Sanitarium (1938 - Marian Richardson). You can write your own joke for those... Fast forward to 2016, where the Scripps National Spelling Bee is taking place starting today in Washington D.C. with Kentucky having two spellers who will try and bring back the title to the Commonwealth. The three day competition will see a combination of non-televised computer tests, followed by the traditional Spelling Bee you are accustomed to viewing on ESPN. Let's take a look at the two local competitors who we will be rooting for this week in the Bee:

Tirzah G. Schanding - Winchester, KY (Contestant #93) Tirzah is a seventh grader with the Classical Conversations of Lexington school. She is no stranger to competition as she has competed in the National History Bee finals, the state level of the National Geographic Bee, and the National Federation of Music Clubs piano and Bach Festivals. According to her profile on the Bee website, when she isn't competing, she spends her spare time reading, doing chemistry experiments, and challenging her cousin to "BattleBot" competitions with homemade robots. A couple of years ago when she was interviewed for the National History Bee by the Winchester Sun, she said of her chemistry experiments: "I hope I don't blow a hole in the roof one day." Well, Tirzah, here's hoping you blow the roof off the Scripps National Spelling Bee

Tara Singh - Louisville, KY (Contestant #94) Tara is a sixth grader from the Louisville Classical Academy. She has competed in the National Spelling bee twice before in 2013 and 2015. Tara is a musician who sings in the choir and has been playing the violin since she was five (!). She also plays something called Certamen, which is a game where you answer questions in Latin regarding "classical civilizations and its people, languages and cultures." Tara spends her time reading stories in English, Latin and German. Nothing like reading spelling bee contestant profiles to make you feel very unaccomplished...

The 2016 Scripps National Spelling Bee starts today with the preliminary tests, where the spellers will compete in a multiple choice test. The TV schedule for the Bee is as follows: Wednesday, May 25 - Preliminaries Round Two - ESPN3 8:00-9:45 - Spellers 1 through 142 10:00-11:45 - Spellers 143 through 285 Round Three - ESPN3 1:15-2:45 - Spellers 1 through 142 3:15-4:45 - Spellers 143 through 4:45 Thursday, May 26 - Finals 10:00 AM - Finals Part One on ESPN2 8:00 PM - Finals Part Two on ESPN

Good Luck Tirzah and Tara, bring Kentucky home its first Spelling Bee Championship in 78 years! Hopefully you get some easy words: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fo2csXEV-NY @funkhouserksr