HAMPTON ROADS — Williamsburg resident Suhani Joshi advanced to the quarterfinals of the 2026 Scripps National Spelling Bee, improving on her performance from last year and finishing among the nation’s top young spellers.
Joshi, an eighth-grade student at Hampton Roads Academy, competed in the national spelling competition May 26-28 at DAR Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C. The event featured 247 spellers from the United States, Canada, the Bahamas, Ghana, Nigeria and the United Arab Emirates.
Joshi reached the second round of the quarterfinals and finished tied for 67th place, improving on her 2025 performance when she tied for 100th place during the bee’s 100th anniversary competition.
“It was a fantastic, fun experience,” Joshi said in a school news release. “This year was even more rewarding since I advanced to the quarterfinals and finished tied for 67th place.”
More than 10 million students participated in spelling bee programs nationwide this year, making Joshi one of a select group to qualify for the national competition.
“To make it to Nationals two years in a row is an incredible accomplishment,” Interim Director of Middle School Karen Gillespie said in a Hampton Roads Academy news release. “We are so proud of Suhani!”
Among the challenging words Joshi spelled during the competition were “duxelles,” a French mushroom-based garnish or stuffing; “pasticcio,” an artistic work imitating an earlier style; “repechage,” a second-chance qualifying round in competition; and “ignescent,” meaning volatile or explosive.
Joshi earned her place at the national bee after winning the regional TowneBank Spelling Bee on March 7. The spelling bee was one of several academic achievements for Joshi this year. She received the school’s eighth-grade Scholarship Award for the highest cumulative grade-point average and qualified for a state mathematics competition for the second consecutive year.
Preparing for the national bee required a different strategy than the one she used in 2025. Rather than relying on memorization, Joshi said she focused on understanding language patterns and word origins.
“This new approach allowed me to successfully decode unfamiliar words on stage and ultimately advance further in the competition,” she said.
Joshi added the experience taught her lessons that extend beyond spelling.
“The most valuable thing I learned is that success comes from consistent hard work, not just luck,” she said. “ Even when facing incredibly difficult words, I learned to trust my preparation and stay calm under pressure.”
