ODESSA, Texas — 11-year-old Jaynard Quiray is a man of few words, but you'd be surprised of the words the Odessa Christian School student can spell.
Jaynard realized spelling words came easy to him when he was in first grade. Since then, he's been competing in the school's and the regional Spelling Bee competitions.
Back in January, he successfully earned the title as the Regional Champion during a competition at Odessa High School. He competed against kids a few years younger, and even 8th grade students.
"I was nervous, I thought I couldn't make it that far," Jaynard said.
He always told himself he would continue to study harder until he made it to Nationals.
When asked what helped him through the one to two hours of studying a day he said, "never give up, you never know if you could reach that goal or not."
However, Jaynard emphasized that a lot of his success comes from his biggest supporters: Ms. Hayley, Ms. Valenzuela and his parents.
"Ms. Hayley teaches me through Zoom. We look up words and I look at the words for about 90 seconds and spell them," Jaynard said. "My mom will call them to me and when I ask for the language of origin, she searches them up on her phone."
This year, there are 245 students vying for the title as the Scripps Spelling Bee Champ, including 20 students from Texas. Jaynard is one of the youngest competitors representing the Lonestar this year.
The 2024 Scripps National Spelling Bee is taking place on May 28 in Washington D.C.
This is Jaynard's and his families' first time visiting D.C. One of the things he's most looking forward to is being in the same place as Dr. Jacques Bailly.
"What the Spelling Bee means to me is I can help people study and help them spell the words," said Jaynard.