Lori Anne Madison is one of the top 278 spellers in the country. She’s competing today in Rounds Two and Three of the annual Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C.

As you can see from the photo, most of the spellers (84%, to be exact) are 12 to 14 years old.

Lori Anne is six.

That makes her, not only the youngest competitor this year, but the youngest competitor on record since the Scripps-Howard National Spelling Bee began in 1925.

A homeschooling second-grader from Woodbridge, Virginia, (here’s her photo) Lori Anne has won gold medals in both the National Mythology Exam (it’s intended for grades 3-9) and the National Classical Etymology Exam (it’s intended for grades 6-12).

She recently placed first in her state and second in the nation among second graders in the 2012 Math Kangaroo competition. Oh, and she also won first place in the county home school science fair.

When she was four.

In her spare time, she’s on a swim team, and takes karate, dance and tennis lessons.

It will probably not come as a huge surprise that Lori Anne wants to be an astrobiologist when she grows up. She told the Associated Press:

I’m going to sort of find life forms. And, plus, alien planets are new.

In case you’re thinking of trying your hand at the spelling bee next year, here’s a list of the winning words since 1925:

1925 gladiolus

1926 cerise

1927 luxuriance

1928 albumen

1929 asceticism

1930 fracas

1931 foulard

1932 knack

1933 torsion

1934 deteriorating

1935 intelligible

1936 interning

1937 promiscuous

1938 sanitarium

1939 canonical

1940 therapy

1941 initials

1942 sacrilegious

1946 semaphore

1947 chlorophyll

1948 psychiatry

1949 dulcimer

1950 meticulosity

1951 insouciant

1952 vignette

1953 soubrette

1954 transept

1955 crustaceology

1956 condominium

1957 schappe

1958 syllepsis

1959 catamaran

1960 eudaemonic

1961 smaragdine

1962 esquamulose

1963 equipage

1964 sycophant

1965 eczema

1966 ratoon

1967 Chihuahua

1968 abalone

1969 interlocutory

1970 croissant

1971 shalloon

1972 macerate

1973 vouchsafe

1974 hydrophyte

1975 incisor

1976 narcolepsy

1977 cambist

1978 deification

1979 maculature

1980 elucubrate

1981 sarcophagus

1982 psoriasis

1983 Purim

1984 luge

1985 milieu

1986 odontalgia

1987 staphylococci

1988 elegiacal

1989 spoliator

1990 fibranne

1991 antipyretic

1992 lyceum

1993 kamikaze

1994 antediluvian

1995 xanthosis

1996 vivisepulture

1997 euonym

1998 chiaroscurist

1999 logorrhea

2000 demarche

2001 succedaneum

2002 prospicience

2003 pococurante

2004 autochthonous

2005 appoggiatura

2006 Ursprache

2007 serrefine

2008 guerdon

2009 Laodicean

2010 stromuhr

2011 cymotrichous

Congratulations and best wishes to Lori Anne and the other 277 competitors in the National Spelling Bee!