PRESCOTT, Ariz. — Aliyah Alpert, a sixth-grader from Prescott, tied for ninth place in Thursday's national Scripps Spelling Bee competition.
The 11-year-old was one of the youngest finalists to make it to the last stretch of the tournament before she was eliminated after she stumbled on spelling "ajivika," a word used to describe a member of a nontheistic religious sect founded by a contemporary of the Buddha.
Alpert had successfully mastered spelling challenging words like "nuciform," "trevally," and "croupous" before she was eliminated.
Harini Logan, a 14-year-old from San Antonio, ended up winning the competition.
Alpert was the only competitor from Arizona to reach this round of the tournament.
This was Alpert’s fourth time representing Yavapai County and her third year competing at the state-level spelling competition.
According to her Spelling Bee profile, Alpert loves reading "Lord of the Rings" books and drawing horses. She hopes to someday become a veterinarian.
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How big is Maricopa County?
Maricopa County is the United States’ 4th largest county in terms of population with 4,485,414 people, according to the 2020 Census.
The county contains around 63% of Arizona’s population and is 9,224 square miles. That makes the county larger than seven U.S. states (Rhode Island, Delaware, Connecticut, Hawaii, New Jersey, Massachusetts and New Hampshire).
One of the largest park systems in the nation is also located in Maricopa County. The county has an estimated 120,000 acres of open space parks that includes hundreds of miles of trails, nature centers and campgrounds.
The county’s seat is located in Phoenix, which is also the state capital and the census-designated 5th most populous city in the United States.
The county was named after the Maricopa, or Piipaash, Native American Tribe.