Akash Vukoti is the only 6-year-old among the 285 contestants in this year’s National Spelling Bee. You can watch him live on ESPN3 in the Bee’s preliminary rounds today (Wednesday, May 24). His favorite word is pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis.
And as 6-year-olds go, Akash is a pretty impressive guy. The résumé his dad sent me runs four pages, single-spaced. It starts with his induction into the high-IQ society Mensa at the age of 3 (really!) and ends with his recurring role on Steve Harvey’s new show, Little Big Shots.
Clearly this is a kid who knows some things — and as this year’s youngest speller, he is near certain to be a crowd favorite. So we figured it made sense to catch up with Akash and ask him how he got so freaking good at spelling.
