Hereford Middle School eighth-grader Robbie Palmisano is back from the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C., where he finished 42nd out of 275 kids. He just missed making the cut of 41 spellers who advanced to the semi-final round.

Robbie spelled "jacquard" and "blitzkrieg" correctly in preliminary rounds and he spelled 22 of 25 words correctly in the written test. Those who spelled 23 words correctly moved on to the semi-finals.

"What I have to remember is how difficult it is to even get to the national bee and I ended up in 42nd place," said Robbie, who went last year and just missed out on the semi-final round. "I wasn't as nervous this time."

He earned his way to the national Bee both years by winning his school's Bee and the Baltimore Bee.

Robbie said he had time to get autographs, including the winner's. Sukanya Roy, 14, won the Bee by spelling "cymotrichous," a word related to wavy hair.