(Nathan Ostermann finishes tied for 17th)…That is nothing to sneeze at.

Not when you consider he was competing with 566 other participants in the 92nd annual Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington D.C. The Wilson Jr High 8th grader has been the Imperial County Spelling Bee Champion for 3 consecutive years. Ostermann was the first Imperial Valley student to ever advance to the final round in the national competition. There was no one winner in this year’s event. Officials ran out of competitive words to spell, and declared the 8 finalists tied for the championship.