Ex-spellers remain involved with National Spelling Bee

WASHINGTON (AP) — Like an ex-jock who wants to stay involved in his sport, Jacob Williamson has taken on many roles in the two years since his memorable run to the finals at the Scripps National Spelling Bee.

Dozens of former spellers will be scattered throughout the live audience when the preliminary rounds of the bee begin Wednesday.

The most famous ex-spellers are Jacques Bailly, the pronouncer and public face of the bee; and Paige Kimble, the bee's executive director.

Corrie Loeffler, a three-time national bee participant, is also part of Scripps' full-time bee staff, and her brother, ex-speller Paul Loeffler, does commentary for ESPN's telecast.

The bee also brought back last year's co-champions, Vanya Shivashankar and Gokul Venkatachalam, to present the trophies during its first-ever opening ceremonies.

Anamika Veeramani, the 2010 champion and now a pre-med student at Yale, will be working on the bee's social media team for the second straight year.

"Before I competed in the spelling bee, I was super shy, didn't really talk to anyone, spent a lot of time reading," Veeramani said.

After the spelling bee happened, it was like everything that I thought about myself had been changed by this external event.

There's also a feeling of relief, but that's rather transitory, said Rob Palmisano, a student at Duke who'll be part of this year's college crew.