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Spelling Champ Edith Fuller Gets Hero's Welcome from City of Tulsa

Matt Trotter
/
KWGS

A newly famous Tulsan was given a key to the city Wednesday after her recent return from Washington, D.C.

Six-year-old Edith Fuller was the youngest National Spelling Bee competitor ever. She was 5 years old when she qualified by winning the Scripps Green Country Regional Spelling Bee in March.

Fuller spelled both her words correctly on stage in Washington but didn’t score high enough on a written test to go to the finals. She said she wants to make it back to the national bee next year.

"I promise you, I might be better at spelling bee, because I needed to spell longer," Fuller said.

Fuller said her favorite word is "deteriorate," though she’s thinking of changing it to "rhinoceros."

Mayor G.T. Bynum presented Fuller with a proclamation and the key to the city. Bynum said it’s important to celebrate education right now.

"This is a real, I think, testament to what kids in this community are capable of accomplishing, and the fact that she's the youngest National Spelling Bee competitor in the history of the country, I think, says a lot about Tulsa and about the kids we have here," Bynum said.

Edith’s mom, Annie, said she was most impressed when Edith spelled "tapas" at the national bee.

"It was a word that she hadn't seen before, she didn't know, and she — when I saw her use her clues, the Spanish origin and the plural noun, and put it all together and spell it right, I was just never so proud as I was at that moment," Annie Fuller said.

Annie Fuller said she and her husband, Justin, entered spelling bees when they were kids but didn’t make it past the county level.

Matt Trotter joined KWGS as a reporter in 2013. Before coming to Public Radio Tulsa, he was the investigative producer at KJRH. His freelance work has appeared in the Los Angeles Times and on MSNBC and CNN.