Lee County spelling bee winner prepares for national competition

FORT MYERS, Fla. — A Lee County seventh grader is spelling his way to the national stage.

Nihal Gelli, a student at Cypress Lake Middle School, will compete next week in the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C., after winning the Lee County Spelling Bee earlier this year.

“It was pretty surreal. I was kind of shocked that I won,” Gelli said. “I was half expecting me to go out on, like, some stupid mistake.”

Gelli said he has always been interested in reading, and that helped him pick up new words along the way.

“He has always been a very avid reader,” said Archana Gelli, Nihal’s mother. “In the first year during COVID lockdown. In one month, he finished eight Harry Potter books.”

That love of words helped push Nihal from a classroom spelling test to the Lee County Spelling Bee, where he said he did not expect to win.

Once he realized winning regionals could send him to nationals, his approach changed.

“If I'm going to go into a competition, I might as well go well prepared,” Gelli said.

Since winning the county bee, Nihal has been locked in on preparation, sometimes spending four hours a night studying. He said he is not just memorizing words. He is learning roots, suffixes and word origins to help him break down words he has never seen before.

His parents have been helping him prepare by quizzing him at home.

“I don't know how he does it,” Archana said. “Quizzing him was the hardest part for me, but he does it so well, and he's been working so hard.”

His father, Dr. Sreedhar Gelli, said the family is proud to see Nihal represent Lee County on a national stage.

“We are so proud that he's representing our school district, and I am happy for him, and I wish him all the best,” Sreedhar Gelli said.

Outside of spelling, Nihal plays tennis and piano, does art and is part of the news crew at school. He also has a big goal set for the future, to become a neurosurgeon.

For now, his focus is on Washington, D.C.

“I'm just hoping I do my best,” Gelli said. “Try to get to the finals.” 

Nihal will not be the only Southwest Florida student competing in Washington, D.C. Nixon Diveley, a seventh grader from Pine Ridge Middle School in Collier County, is also headed to the national bee.

The Scripps National Spelling Bee starts Tuesday.