Porterville Girl Competes in National Spelling Bee

A valley girl has been in Maryland impressing judges with her spelling know- how. 
12 year old Sameera Hussain, a sixth grader at Westfield Elementary in Porterville correctly spelled "ikebana" in today’s preliminary round. Sameera got that word right, but sadly is not one of the 49 kids moving on to the semi-finals.
She says getting this far was a thrill. According to Sameera Hussain, "This has always been my dream to come here since my first grade teacher told me about it."  Sameera successfully spelled her first two words out loud, but contestants also had to take a very difficult written exam in order to make the semi-finals. If you want to take the same test as the young contestants — you can find it on our ksee24 facebook page.