Whiz Kid Kevin Bailey

A few weeks ago, Whiz Kids featured , an eighth grader at who competed in the National Geographic Bee in Sacramento. 

One of Adrienne’s classmates, Kevin Bailey, is also a bee competitor --only he dominates in spelling instead of geography. 

Kevin, 12, will compete in the state final spelling bee May 14 in San Rafael.  Although Kevin is no stranger to these nerve-racking events, he still gets butterflies in his stomach when he is quizzed on spelling words during competition. 

Kevin made it to his first regional spelling bee three years ago when he was in fifth grade.   He practices on a regular basis to keep improving his vocabulary and spelling techniques by looking up unfamiliar words in the dictionary and learning their meaning. 

 Kevin’s most difficult word to spell during a spelling bee is the word, idiosyncrasy, which has an s instead of the assumed c at the end.  Kevin says he is good at spelling as long as the word doesn’t require some tricky rule.  Kevin has an older brother, 15, and likes to read, play video games such as Mind Craft, go swimming and skiing and put together jigsaw puzzles. 

The most surprising thing about Kevin is that his favorite subject in school is math -- not spelling or English. 

“Math is very certain as long as you do everything right," Kevin says.  "If you approach it in a straightforward way, you’ll get the right answer.”