Pleasant Hill Teen On a Roll at Spelling Bee

There aren't a myriad of reasons that  eighth grader Nick Lambert is progressing at the 2012 Scripps National Spelling Bee — just two. His correct spelling of the word 'myriad' is one of those reasons, and 'altazimuth' is the other. 

Wait, you've never heard of the word 'altazimuth'? Neither had we. But fortunately for our Pleasant Hill contender, Lambert had. Or, at least, he took a lucky guess.

However, Lambert won't be one of the 50 youngsters — out of a total of 278 — to advance to the semi-finals Thursdays. Although he aced the stage rounds, the 14-year-old lagged on the written test.

The bee began Wednesday with a three rounds — a test round and two official rounds. A total of 25 contenders misspelled their words in round two, and 16 fumbled in round three. Only 50 spellers will advance to the semifinals Thursday, after their points are tallied and announced Wednesday evening. A schedule of the 2012 bee is available on the Scripps website.

For those of you unfamiliar with spelling bees, this is the big one. The finals will be broadcast on ESPN Thursday evening. Think you could be a contender? Try this test. 

Here is Lambert’s profile on the bee’s website:

“Nick loves outdoor pursuits like hiking, canoeing and rafting. He collects photos and autographs from Disneyland characters, and his role model is Walt Disney because he showed the world creativity. At school Nick is in Earth Club, California Junior Scholarship Federation and Boy Scouts. He plays the saxophone in his school’s Jazz band and aspires to be a musician and actor. Nick won a science award in sixth grade and received a “best reader” award in third grade. His favorite book is Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief. Nick won the school spelling bee in fifth, sixth and eight grades, and he's excited to finally go to Washington, D.C.”