An eighth-grader from Silver Lake finished in a four-way tie for sixth in the National Spelling Bee in Washington Thursday, getting eliminated in the 12th round when he misspelled Faesulae, a town in the Florence, Italy region.
Oliver Halkett gave the spelling as Fisile.
The student at the Mirman School in Brentwood was seeking to be the first champion from Los Angeles County. This was the final bee for Oliver, who was competing in the national bee for the third time. The bee is limited to students in eighth grade and below.
Oliver tied for seventh in last year’s bee and for 60th in the 2024 bee.
Oliver began Thursday’s finals at Constitution Hall by correctly spelling cobola, a tall, slow-growing evergreen tree. He then selected the correct answer to the multiple-choice vocabulary question, “What does pro tempore mean?” choosing “occupying a position during the absence of an elected official.”
A vocabulary question is asked in the second round in each of the bee’s four segments.
Oliver qualified for the bee by winning the Los Angeles County Regional Spelling Bee for the third consecutive year.
There were two other spellers from Los Angeles County in the original field of 247.
Olive O’Brien, a 14-year-old eighth grader at WISH Community School in Westchester, reached the ninth round and was among 15 spellers tying for 10th
Elyssa Chen, an 11-year-old fifth grader at Center Street Elementary School in El Segundo, was among 72 spellers who reached the third round, but failed to score high enough on the written test to advance to the semifinals.
Under bee rules, spellers who correctly spell their first word and correctly answer their first vocabulary take a written test. They are grouped by their number of correct answers. The number of spellers to advance are determined by identifying the group whose minimum score results in as close to 100 quarterfinalists as possible.
Spellers with a least 13 points were assured of advancing to the quarterfinals, officials announced. Individual scores were not disclosed.