A seventh-grader at the Mirman School in Brentwood tied for seventh place in the Scripps National Spelling Bee Thursday night in National Harbor, Maryland, misspelling “aurore” in the 13th round.
Oliver Halkett omitted the “u” in the adjective that means “marked by or relating to a yellow or pink tint given a white sauce by the addition of egg yolks, tomato puree, or lobster coral.”
The Silver Lake resident was among nine spellers from the original field of 243 to reach the finals. He began Thursday’s finals at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center, the 11th round overall, by correctly spelling “corbicula,” which refers to a bee’s pollen basket.
The 13-year-old then correctly answered the multiple-choice vocabulary question, “Who is in charge in a gerontocracy?” selecting “a group of elders.”
The second question in each of the bee’s four segments — preliminaries, quarterfinals, semifinals and finals — is a multiple-choice vocabulary question.
Oliver received $2,000 for tying for seventh with Esha Marupudi of Phoenix, who was eliminated earlier in the 13th round.
With the bee limited to students who have not have passed beyond the eighth grade or an international equivalent and 14 years older or younger, Oliver is eligible to compete in the 2026 bee if he finishes first or second in the Los Angeles County bee.
The bee was won by Faizan Zaki, a 13-year-old from Allen, Texas, a Dallas suburb. He correctly spelled “éclaircissement,” which is defined as “the clearing up of something obscure.”
