A member of the National Society of the Children of the American Revolution from Sandwich will participate in the National Spelling Bee inside Daughters of the American Revolution Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C., in two months.

After winning the DeKalb County Regional Office of Education Spelling Bee for the second year in a row on Feb. 21, Brighid Reid, 14, of Sandwich, will return to the Scripps National Spelling Bee on May 26.

Her father, Jim Reid, said he believes she is making history as a member of the National Society of Children of the American Revolution – a youth spinoff of the Daughters of the American Revolution organization. Reid’s also on the La Salle County Board.

“From what we can find, Brighid may be the only one that’s ever competed [in the Scripps National Spelling Bee,]” Jim Reid said. “For the first time ever it’s going to be at Constitution Hall and as a member of DAR she’ll be competing at ... basically in her own house.”

The Daughters of the American Revolution Constitution Hall, 1776 D. St. NW, Washington, D.C., opened in 1929 as a convention center for the organization. It was designated a National Historic Building in 1985.

Brighid Reid thought about her grandmother when asked what getting to compete inside Constitution Hall meant to her.

“It makes me very happy because I know that if my grandmother was alive to see me going to Constitution Hall, she’d be the first one on the plane,” Reid said. “She’d be so happy.”

Pamela Reid, Brighid’s mother, said the family is hoping to have Brighid meet with Daughters of the American Revolution leadership while in Washington the week of Memorial Day.

“We’re very proud of her,” Pamela Reid said. “Her spelling career could not have ended better than her competing at Constitution Hall. I think that’s such an honor.”

No matter how she performs, the 2026 National Spelling Bee will be the last competition of Brighid Reid’s spelling bee career. As a Somonauk Middle School eighth grader, she is aging out of spelling competitions, but has made a legacy for herself.

On March 17, weeks after securing the regional spelling bee title, Brighid helped Somonauk Middle School win a Junior 10 conference championship Spelling Bee for the third consecutive year. She was the overall winner of that event.

She is the first student from Somonauk Community School District 432 to win consecutive titles at the DeKalb County Regional Office of Education Spelling Bee.

“It just shows she definitely is good at studying,” Pamela Reid said. “She’s definitely good at spelling because she’s won twice now, so it wasn’t just a fluke. She definitely has shown the same amount of rigor around her studying, so I’m really proud of her.”

The last time a student won the DeKalb County regional spelling bee in back-to-back years was in 2022, when Max Foley, a student at St. Mary School in DeKalb, won his second title.

“She works really hard at this,” Jim Reid said, of his daughter.

Brighid Reid said she credits much of her spelling ability to her mother’s push to have her read significant literature from the likes of John Steinbeck and Ernest Hemingway when she was 8.

She also credited her mom, who has learned the pronunciations of the 4,000 words they’ve studied together to prepare for the national bee.

“I’d just like to say my mom is my biggest supporter and the only reason I’m doing so well in spelling bees is because of her,” Brighid Reid said.