He may be a young man of few words, but he certainly knows how to spell them.

Thunder Bay’s Canwest Canspell champion, 13-year-old Emilio Lachaine-Robertson, is off to Washington, D.C., today to compete against 292 more young word masters in the Scripps National Spelling Bee.

“Just going somewhere new,” he said of what he’s looking forward to the most in the U.S. capital.

On Monday and Tuesday, somewhere new will include the famous Smithsonian museum, along with the Spy Museum, National Air and Space Museum and a jaunt over to the White House.

Emilio and the other 21 students who spelled in the Canadian national event last month in Ottawa will join students from the U.S., Puerto Rico, China, Ghana, South Korea and New Zealand, among other countries.

The flight south will be Lachaine-Robertson’s second time in an airplane — his first was last month for the Ottawa bee.

It will also be the furthest south he and his mother, Isabelle Robertson, have ever travelled into the United States.

The spelling bee itself takes place at the Grand Hyatt Washington, a downtown hotel.

On Tuesday, spellers will take a computer spelling test of 50 words, then a regular spelling bee format for two words. Earning points for each correct word, those youngsters with the most points go on to the semifinals and finals on Thursday.

Just so the Canadian kids don’t get knocked out due to a cross-border difference of opinion on how to spell “honour” or “neighbour,” the judges accept both the “or” and “our” spellings.
Lachaine-Robertson doesn’t really have his eye on any particular standing and doesn’t plan on adopting any new strategies.

He agrees he’s “kind of” tired of studying his spelling — he’s been rattling off words since early in the new year.

His school spelling bee was in early March, and since then he’s spent an hour or two each day reading a dictionary.

To get ready for the U.S. national bee he also practises online at the Scripps Bee website, which reads aloud difficult words, mimicking the process Lachaine-Robertson will go through when standing alone before the judges for each word.

On Friday, there will more time to explore Washington before catching a flight home.