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Macon County Student Finishes 13th In National Spelling Bee

WUIS

Today is officially "Yasir Hasnain Day" in the village of Forsyth.  It's in honor of the incoming freshman student's 13th place finish in the recent Scripps National Spelling Bee. 

It was Yasir's fourth time in the competition and his highest finish.   The soon to be freshman student said he had fun and, despite being in competition with one another, friendships were made.

"When I made it to the semifinals... when they had commercial breaks, we would talk about random stuff like the (NBA) Heat and the Pacers games," he said.

Misspelling a word on stage and hearing the dreaded bell sends some kids home from the competition.  Yasir's run ended a different way. 

"Every speller would take a written test," he said.  Another written test was given at the semifinals and cumulative scores were tallied.  "So even though you might not miss a word on stage, you might not make it to the finals."

"I was pretty happy I made my goal of making it to the semifinals," he said.

Yasir has future plans beyond spelling.  He hopes to become a doctor.