BATTLE CREEK, Mich. — In the Demlow family, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.
“My mom's an English teacher, and my parents have read to me from since I was born," said Emily Demlow, an eighth-grader at Lakeview Middle School in Battle Creek.
Language has always been the law. So, spelling came naturally for Emily.
“In fifth grade, I heard about spelling bees and I thought, 'Why not? I'm kind of good at this English thing.' So, here I am," Emily said.
That year was her first bee ever. It was also her first win ever — the first of many.
The one thing Emily had not done yet was earn a spot in the Scripps National Spelling Bee, until this year.
“I was just ecstatic," she said. "I still am kind of in shock that this is actually happening after all the studying I've done through middle school.”
This is new territory for Emily, but not for Battle Creek.
She's the fourth student from the area to reach the national stage, all of them coming from Lakeview Middle School.
“I would say it's really because of Mrs. Galonsky," Emily said. "She's a parent volunteer, and she's really helped. She's tutored me, and for the four years I've been in spelling, she's been there for all of it.”
Emily continued, "It's amazing to me. Just to join the list of the amazing people from Lakeview that have done this before is an honor. I mean, I think it's a tribute to Mrs. Galonsky as well, just that she's been able to carry this and teach us to do this."
Emily hopes to do her teacher, school, family and community proud in Washington, D.C.
That support is her driving force. That's her motivation. As opposed to some of the other options...
“Well, it's not because I'm competitive," she joked. "I feel bad sometimes when I beat people, but I just really enjoy words and language. I take an advanced English class through Western Michigan. Vocabulary and spelling are, like, this bigger umbrella that will take you so far in life."
The 94th Scripps National Spelling Bee begins with preliminaries on Tuesday, May 30. You can tune in live by going to the ION Plus or Bounce XL channels on your streaming devices.
Learn more by clicking this link.