WASHINGTON – Auto correct, spell check and voice recognition have come to do the heavy lifting when it comes to spelling.

But 285 students who have mastered the old-fashioned way are in Washington this week for the Scripps National Spelling Bee.

Nine local students enter the preliminaries on Wednesday.

The Spelling Bee notes a curious preference among the wizards of the ABCs. Their favorite school subject is not English, literature or composition. It’s math.

Here are the local students competing in the competition:

Jessie Ditton
Grade: 8th grade
Age: 14
School: Homeschool, Stafford, Virginia

Shiv Dang Lamba
Grade: 8th grade
Age: 14
School: Loudoun Country Day School, Leesburg, Virginia

Ankita Vadiala
Grade: 8th grade
Age: 13
School: Stonewall Middle School, Manassas, Virginia

Trisha Balakrishnan
Grade: 6th grade
Age: 11
School: Greenbriar West Elementary School, Fairfax, Virginia

Raffae Aman Chowdhury
Grade: 6th grade
Age: 11
School: Rocky Hill Middle School, Clarksburg, Maryland

Selomi G. Dayaprema
Grade: 7th grade
Age: 12
School: Urbana Middle School, ljamsville, Maryland

Tamya Michelle Matthews
Grade: 8th grade
Age: 13
School: Mt. Calvary Catholic School, Forestville, Maryland

Craig Storm
Grade: 7th grade
Age: 13
School: Mattawoman Middle School, Waldorf, Maryland

Julia Weinrod
Grade: 5th grade
Age: 11
School: Horace Mann Elementary School, Washington, D.C.