Emma McGreevy was not expecting much when she walked in to the Saguaro High School Auditorium Friday, Jan. 24.

Two hours later, the Copper Ridge School seventh grade student says she was surprised to walk out with the Scottsdale Unified School District 2020 Spelling Bee trophy, according to a press release.

Emma attributes her spelling abilities to being an avid reader. Emma says J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter is probably her favorite book series. She says an online test identified her as best fitting into the fictional Hogwarts School’s Gryffindor House, the same as the series’ hero.

“That’s okay with me,” she said via the release.

In 2019, Emma did not make it out of the competition’s first round. Did that early defeat change her preparation for this year?

“Not really,” she said via a release. “I didn’t start studying until this week. I think it was Tuesday. I didn’t even get through the whole list.”

Her winning word was truncate. Emma will head next to the Feb. 24 Region 2 Spelling Bee alongside the five runners-up in Jan. 24’s SUSD Bee.

Those runner-ups include Redfield Elementary School fifth grader Braden Van Horne, Cocopah Middle School sixth grader Lianna Nguyen, Mountainside Middle School eighth grader Victoria Leung, Kiva Elementary School fifth grader Gigi Root and Cheyenne Traditional School seventh grader Makenna Shenberger.

The winners of the six Maricopa County Region Bees and 14 Arizona county Bees will take part in the March 21 Arizona Spelling Bee, which can be seen on Arizona PBS Channel 8.

As for the Trailblazers’ spelling champ, she suspects she won’t procrastinate studying for the regional bee, but she probably won’t start right away, Emma has a callback to portray Charlie Bucket in a DC Ranch community theater production of “Willy Wonka Jr.”