A 14-year-old from Orange County headed to the finals of the National Spelling Bee on Thursday night.

Abhilash Patel, an eighth grader at Monroe-Woodbury Middle School, faced off against 11 other kids for the top prize.

Despite his best efforts, Patel did not take home top honors from this year's competition. Patel got a question wrong in the multiple choice section of the competition.

In his free time, Abhilash loves to explore geography and research scientific and mathematical paradoxes. He plans to study computer science in college and already knows how to program in JavaScript, CSS, Python and HTML.