A Sioux Falls middle schooler is among the 293 students taking part in the National Spelling Bee underway in Washington, D.C. South Dakota's representative is 13 year old Sean Calhoun.

On the National Spelling Bee's website, you'll see a picture of the 7th Grader who attends Patrick Henry Middle School in Sioux Falls. The website says Sean enjoys professional basketball and football. He also holds a black belt in Tae Kwon Do. But it's clear, Sean also excels in the classroom at Patrick Henry.

Besides making it to the National Spelling Bee, he's also earned a trip to the National Mathcounts competition in Orlando. Today, all 293 spellers took part in round one of the National Spelling Bee. In round one of that test, spellers spelled 50 words using a computer keyboard. Only 25 of the 50 spellings will count toward each speller's preliminary score.
Rounds 2 and 3 of the spelling bee start tomorrow. During that time, spellers accrue points for each word they spell correctly. That's how judges determine who'll make it to the semi-final round on Thursday.