Derek Li breaks down a word the way a mathematician breaks down a number.
"I kind of like to draw an analogy to math," the 13-year-old said. "Because in math, every number can be, at least integers, can be expressed as a product of their prime numbers. And it's kind of like in the spelling bee, words can be expressed as a conjunction of their roots."
The Boulder seventh-grader is one of two students representing Colorado at this year's Scripps National Spelling Bee, set for May 26 in Washington, D.C. He will compete against 246 other young spellers from across the United States, U.S. territories and beyond for $50,000 in cash and the Scripps Cup, the official trophy awarded to the national champion.
For Derek, a student at Summit Middle School, spelling is more than an academic exercise.
"Oh, spelling is super fun for me!" he said.
Derek's secret weapon heading into the national competition is his older sister, Blanche. The 15-year-old competed in the national spelling bee last year, advancing to the sixth round before aging out of eligibility. Now she serves as Derek's coach, drilling him one hour a day, every day, on spelling, definitions and word origins.
"I would say that everything I know about spelling is from her," Derek said. "She taught me all the language patterns, all the etymology, basically everything I know about spelling and also she's really nice about it."
For Derek, having Blanche in his corner eases some of the uncertainty of competing on the national stage for the first time.
"Because it's my first time at the national spelling bee so I'm not really sure what to expect at it," he said. "What to expect on the national stage. Since she's already been there, it's kinda like I've already been there once."
Blanche is confident in her younger brother heading into the competition.
"I believe in Derek," Blanche Li said. "I believe he's going to do great."
Spelling bees are the only Bs in this home of straight-A students where over-achieving seems to be the resting state. An overflowing trophy case displays the spelling and math awards. Both Derek and Blanche play saxophone and compete on ultimate Frisbee teams. Derek also programs his own computer games.
"I actually feel pretty confident going into the bee, because I've done a lot of training," he said. "I'm also there to have fun. So if I don't do very well, I think it will be a really valuable experience for me. It will also help me with my public speaking and I'll meet a lot of really cool people."
With that outlook and that talent, there only seems to be one problem in the immediate future, the Li family is going to need a bigger trophy case.
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