An Orinda seventh-grader is among the nine finalists who’ll compete Thursday night for the title in the Scripps National Spelling Bee.

Aiden Meng, 13, who attends Orinda Intermediate School, survived nine rounds of competition to take the stage tonight in Oxon, Maryland. It is his second year of competition at the national bee; last year he finished in a tie for 58th place.

In the competition that started Tuesday, Aiden correctly spelled villi, paleology, endoneurium, eicosanoid and kirve, and he defined salience, ordeal and bouillabaisse.

This year’s bee started with 247 spellers. After the two preliminary rounds, 167 were left, and that field was cut to 95 quarterfinalists after a written spelling and vocabulary test.

The other Bay Area competitors were:

— Rithvi Balajee, 13, Stratford School – Pleasanton Middle School. Eliminated in Round 7.

— Ishani Dasgupta, 11, BASIS Independent Silicon Valley. Eliminated on the written test (Round 3).

— Navika Joseph, 13, William Hopkins Middle School, Fremont. Eliminated in Round 1.

The top returning finisher from 2025 is Sarv Dharavane of Dunwoody, Georgia, who finished third last year as an 11-year-old fifth-grader.

Here are the other finalists:

— Shrey Parikh, a 14-year-old eighth-grader from Rancho Cucamonga who finished third in 2024. He lost at the school level in 2025 but has dominated the bee circuit since, winning the South Asian Spelling Bee, the SpellPundit National Spelling Bee and the Words of Wisdom Spelling Bee.

— Oliver Halkett, a 14-year-old eighth-grader from Los Angeles who finished in a tie for seventh last year.

— Zwe Spacetime, a 14-year-old eighth-grader from Fort Washington, Maryland, and the younger brother of 2021 champion Zaila Avant-garde.

— Ishaan Gupta, a 12-year-old seventh-grader from Jersey City, New Jersey, who was a semifinalist last year.

— Kushi Gottimukkala, a 13-year-old seventh-grader from Morrisville, North Carolina, a semifinalist last year.

— Avishka Dudala, a 13-year-old eighth-grader from Prosper, Texas, a semifinalist last year.

— Logan Bailey, a 12-year-old sixth-grader from Houston. The winner of the North South Foundation spelling bee, he is making his debut on the national stage.

The champion wins $52,500 in cash, reference works from Encyclopaedia Britannica and Merriam-Webster, a trophy and commemorative medal, and $1,000 in flight credits from Delta Air Lines. Prizes for the eight others range from $2,000 to $25,000.

The finals will be broadcast Thursday on ION from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. Eastern time. The action can also be followed on the bee’s website.