Carl Torola of Calumet to Compete in Scripps National Spelling Bee

On May 29th and 30th, 13-year-old Carl Torola, Jr. of Calumet will compete in the 81st Scripps National Spelling Bee. The competition will be held at the Grand Hyatt Washington hotel in Washington, D.C.

Each year the Upper Peninsula sends one student to the National Spelling Bee who wins the annual Upper Peninsula Community Education Association Spelling Bee Finals. This year’s Upper Peninsula spelling bee competition took place at the Negaunee High School in March.

A student at Calumet-Laurium-Keweenaw Public Schools, Torola is sponsored by Ogden News Publishing, the owner of local newspapers the Houghton Daily Gazette, Escanaba Daily, Mining Journal and Iron Mountain Daily News.

Carl Torola will be the 3rd member of his family to compete in the National Spelling Bee, following in the footsteps of his older sisters Pam and Mallory.

If Carl is able to make it to the semifinals you’ll be able to cheer him on by watching ESPN on Friday, May 30.

The Quarterfinals air live on ESPN360.com May 29 from 2:00 to 5:30 p.m. ET.
The Semifinals air live on ESPN May 30 from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. ET.
The Championship Finals air live on ABC May 30 between 8:00 and 10:00 p.m. ET.

This year’s competition will host 288 spellers from across the United States and U.S. Territories.

I better run spell checker for this post.