This summer at Summer at the Hall, the spotlight was on words, wonder, and building confidence—and leading the way was our very own Harini Logan ’26, the 2022 Scripps National Spelling Bee Champion.
Harini returned to campus not to compete, but to coach and inspire the next generation of word wizards through her exciting new camp: Speak Up & Spell Out: A Word Mastery Summer Camp. Our campers dove into a world of fun spelling games and vocabulary challenges—all designed to strengthen confidence, spark creativity, and sharpen communication skills. And with a national champion as their guide, they learned from the very best.
For Harini, it was a full-circle moment. “The spark that started my spelling bee journey was watching the 2015 Scripps National Spelling Bee finals and marveling at the composure and sheer talent of the ‘big kids’ on stage. It was the motivation that I, too, could showcase my love for words on such a big stage that led me to pursue it,” she shared. “ After I won in 2022, I immediately wanted to find a way to give back to the community that had given me so much, and I discovered that in teaching.”
Each day, our campers connected over words, linguistic challenges, and fun games. But that wasn’t all—this camp went global. Students explored how to spell and pronounce words that came into English from various languages, like Spanish, Italian, Japanese, Hindi, French, and more. It was a multicultural adventure that expanded both their minds and their word banks and sparked a joy in spelling.
“There's something so beautiful about being for another young speller what the 2015 Bee was for me, and there's nothing as rewarding as watching a student's eyes light up with an understanding and enjoyment of the wonders of language,” said Harini. “I saw both happen over and over again at camp, and I'm so grateful to SMH, Summer at the Hall, and my wonderful campers for trusting me with this opportunity.”
We are incredibly grateful for the passion, dedication, and heart that Harini brought to our SMH community and to Summer at the Hall. Her commitment to empowering young learners through language is truly inspiring—and we are so proud to have her leading the way.