How do you spell orthographer? That’s what you call a person skilled in spelling correctly, and that describes two Southwest Florida seventh graders.

Nihal Gelli from Lee County schools and Nixon Diveley from Collier County schools came out on top in their district spelling bees, open to sixth, seventh and eighth graders.

Nihal, a student at Cypress Lake Middle School, won in the 13th round by spelling carabiner. That word was a relief because he knew it, but he didn’t go into the bee with total confidence.

"Not really confident because I knew there were people who studied for years and years to do this. … Some people here were just really prepared," he said.

He studied, but not for years. Nihal spent his spring break studying word lists every day, and he reads a lot. His favorite subject is math, because the teacher is good and he hands out treats when the students get something right. In the future, he wants to go into neurosurgery.

"Well, I kind of want to get rich. And I just enjoy stuff with brains and all that."

Nixon Dively, a student at Pine Ridge Middle School, won the Collier County district bee on the word domiciled. He says he studied for at least six hours. And he was nervous.

"I was pretty confident, but at the same time I didn’t know who the other schools were going to send," he said. "I was shaking," he admitted.

His favorite subject is Civics, but that’s not his plan for his life.

"I like Civics, but I'd really like to be a scientist, preferably like a quantum physicist or something."

Both boys will go on to compete in the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C., the last week of May.