PLEASANT HILL, Mo. — The Scripps National Spelling Bee is celebrating 100 years in 2025, and spellers from across the country will travel to Washington, D.C. next week for their shot at the title.
One of them is from Pleasant Hill, Missouri. I recently sat down with him to talk about how he’s feeling before the biggest competition of his young life.
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I'm certain he can spell anxious, but I'm just not certain he knows what it means because this young man is one cool character.
"I just really like words and etymology and reading,” Will Henley told me. “And that just really made me interested in spelling and the spelling bee."
Will is 12 years old and is a sixth grader at Pleasant Hill Intermediate School. He's got some things well figured out.
"I want to be either a biomedical engineer or an astronaut; those would both be pretty awesome," Will told me.
Since he already has a career (or two) picked out, you shouldn't be surprised that he also has very specific goals for his first trip to the Scripps National Spelling Bee.
"The way that most people win the National Spelling Bee is the first year that they're there, they get to round three,” Will said. “Second year, they get to finals, and third year, they finally win. My goal is just to get to round three."
He's won four bees just to get the right to compete in Washington: his classroom bee, school bee, district bee and then the county bee.
I asked him if he gets nervous at competitions because his description of his efforts so far made it sound like the answer would be no.
"The part where I'm most nervous is when I've already spelled the word, and I'm just waiting to see if I got it right," Will said. “I like to just stand there, and sometimes beat my hand against my leg. That works sometimes."
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I couldn't help but be impressed by Will's cool, calm demeanor.
Maybe his plan just gives him a lot of comfort, but the district spelling bee coordinator, who watched him win a couple of those bees, told me when it's time to compete, he'll be dialed in.
"When he finds something that he is super excited about, you will know,” said Michelle Carey, district spelling bee coordinator. “Everybody will know. But for the most part, he's pretty low-key about things."
The preliminaries for the Scripps National Spelling Bee are Tuesday morning, May 27. If Will makes it all the way to the finals, those will air on Thursday night, May 29.
You can find broadcast information for the bee by clicking here.
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