Snoqualmie Elementary student to compete in National Spelling Bee

Snoqualmie Elementary student to compete in National Spelling be

A 5th grader from Snoqualmie Elementary School will be competing the 96th Scripps National Spelling Bee.

A fifth grader from Snoqualmie Elementary School will be competing in the 96th Scripps National Spelling Bee.

The school announced last week that 11-year-old Declan Mallady is the only speller representing Washington state.

He is among 245 spellers from all all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Department of Defense Schools in Europe. There are also spellers representing the Bahamas, Canada and Ghana.

Before Declan took off for the competition in Washington, D.C., Snoqualmie Elementary gave him a proper send off with a rally last week.

This year's competition starts on Tuesday, and spellers will compete in four segments of competition to determine who will take home the Scripps Cup: the Preliminaries, Quarterfinals, Semifinals and Finals. The finals take place Thursday.