NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. – What could have been a somber experience half a country away from home, Parker Zimmerly was optimistic and took in all of the joys of an unplanned family vacation.

Zimmerly won the Amboy Spelling Bee and the Lee-Ogle-Whiteside Regional Spelling Bee to earn his way to the 2025 Scripps National Spelling Bee May 27-29 at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland, which is just outside of Washington D.C.

After leaving home at 3 a.m. and arriving in Maryland around noon, Zimmerly had a picnic with other spellers at Nationals Park, the baseball park for Washington Nationals of Major League Baseball.

Tuesday, at 9:30 a.m., it was time to spell with 242 other letter connoisseurs across the country.

“It’s very nerve racking to be up there because you know you’re on a national stage. There are more people watching you,” Zimmerly said. “When I went up there, I was pretty nervous when he gave me a word. The word was tough just like all the other ones who went before me. I got the word, gelilah, and I did not know it. I spelled it wrong.

“I asked for the origin and the definition, but it didn’t really help me because I had never seen or heard the word before.”

Although he misspelled gelilah, which has a red line under it in a Microsoft Word document because it is a Hebrew girl’s name meaning “rolling hills” and a Jewish ritual term referring to the wrapping and dressing of the Torah scroll, Zimmerly wasn’t upset for long that he was out of the national spelling bee.

He had his mother Joanie Zimmerly, father Cody Zimmerly, sister Haidyn Zimmerly and grandparents Jim ad Sheila Hicks to keep him company in the richest location in the United States when it comes to history, things to see, and making memories.

“I was disappointed at first, but it didn’t last long. If I advanced to the next round, I wouldn’t have been able to see all the museums and sight see with my family while I was there,” Zimmerly said. “Getting the word wrong, opened up more opportunities to make it a vacation.

“We went to many of the Smithsonian museums, Holocaust Memorial Museum, White House, Arlington Cemetery, Lincoln Memorial, Washington Memorial and the Vietnam Memorial.

“It was my first time in Washington D.C. I knew what all of the monuments, museums and memorials meant and why they were there. It made me appreciate what I got to see while I was there.”

Joanie Zimmerly, a second-grade teacher at Amboy Central School, knows the difficulty of spelling every day American words let alone gelilah.

It didn’t matter if her son spelled 15 words correctly or missed the first one, she’s still beaming with pride.

“I am beyond proud of him. I’ve always been so intrigued by the kids that can spell like that. One of my favorite things about the trip was watching the finals of the spelling bee. It was amazing,” Joanie said. “I am proud of him for setting a goal to win the regional spelling bee this year. He took us to Washington and made memories that will last a lifetime.

“Tom Wadsworth, who was named the Volunteer of the Year, and he runs the regional spelling bee in Dixon, was given a video presentation of what he’s done. Parker was on the huge screen several times because he won this year.”