LOS ALAMITOS, Calif.—A middle school student from Orange County, California, advanced to the quarterfinals of the 2022 Scripps National Spelling Bee after advancing through three rounds of spelling—but stopped in the fourth round on June 1.
Jason Khan, an eighth-grader attending McAuliffe Middle School in Los Alamitos, misspelled lepper, a horse skilled in jumping. However, he was close—as he spelled it leper.
Among the 234 competitors, Khan is one of the 88 spellers who entered the quarterfinals this year, the first fully in-person Bee since 2019.
Khan won the first round by correctly spelling threnody, meaning a poem or song of mourning or lamentation….