Good NewsBlind 11-year-old girl heads to Scripps National Spelling Bee
Richelle Zampella, 11, is heading to Washington to compete in the prestigious Scripps National Spelling Bee later this month.
Her teachers say she's likely the hardest worker in the competition: Richelle is blind.
The smart fifth-grader has Nystagmus and Leber's Congenital Amaurosis. A top student at the Oklahoma School for the Blind, Richelle has been learning to read and type Braille since the age of 5.
"It may take us a minute to scan a dictionary page and it would probably take her about five to ten minutes," Cindy Lumpkin, one of Richelle's teachers, told KJRH.
Lumpkin added, "When I had her in kindergarten, by the end of the year she was reading on a second grade level — in Braille — and it just takes a lot to learn Braille."
Richelle says that "at the school they teach you you can do anything you want," and that she doesn't consider her blindness an obstacle.
To qualify for the spelling bee, Richelle beat 110 other students at the Eastern Oklahoma State Spelling Bee, winning with the word "stolen," the German bread.
Richelle spends two hours a day studying.
"I know she'll do her best and that's what matters," Richelle's mom, Shelia Zampella, told Fox 4 News. Richelle's parents and her 5-year-old sister, Katelynn, will cheer Richelle on in Washington on May 30th, thanks to the fundraising efforts of local spelling-bee promoters.
