Entertainment

Queens 12-year-old a favorite to win National Spelling Bee

A seventh grader from Bayside, Queens is the odds-on favorite to win this year’s Scripps National Spelling Bee.

Arvind Mahankali, 12, is one of 278 spellers in the competition which will be broadcast today beginning at 10:00 a.m. on ESPN2.

A student at Junior High School 74 Nathaniel Hawthorne, Mahankali tied for ninth place in 2010 and third in 2011. (Last year’s runner up, Laura Newcomb, was too old to return.)

“When I heard the ding of the bell [last year], I was extremely disappointed,” he tells The Post.

“My parents advised me that each time I make an attempt to win I should forget all of my past experiences.”

Mahankali — who wants to be a nuclear physicist like his role model, Albert Einstein — won his first spelling bee in second grade.

His wizardry with words and frequent TV appearances “helps my image and standing” at school, he admits.

But Mahankali will have to get by two other returning finalists if he hopes to take home the silver winner’s trophy — and $30,000 cash prize.

SAMUEL ESTEP, 14 (Berryville, VA)

Last year’s 13th place finisher comes from a family of competitive spellers.

“My older brother had to take standardized tests for school and he scored really low on the spelling part,” he says. “So my Mom and Dad got a spelling curriculum for him and my older sister. When my sister won her first spelling bee, they thought ‘We could go far with this!’ ”

Older sister Marissa, 19, finished 31st in the 2006 Bee. Samuel’s three younger siblings are already preparing to compete.

“A lot of kids in the Bee go on to medical school or to become great intellectuals,” says Samuel, who hopes to become a computer scientist.

NABEEL RAHMAN, 14 (East Amherst, NY)

The 10th place finisher from 2011 is also an honor roll student, secretary of his school activities club, member of the track team and plays viola in the school orchestra.

To prepare for The Bee, “I study about 5 to 10 hours each week,” he tells The Post.

Rahman, who recently won his school’s National Geographic Bee, thinks the experience of making it to the finals will give him an advantage over less-seasoned competitors.

“Last year being on stage was cool but nerve wracking,” he says. “Now it will be easier because I know what it is like.”

The 85th annual Spelling Bee is held at The Gaylord National Resort just south of Washington D.C. The finals air live tonight at 8 PM on ESPN.

Last year’s winner was Sukanya Roy of Pennsylvania, the fifth Indian-American winner in a row — and the fourth girl in six years.

“What You Don’t See at the Bee.”

SECRETS OF THE BEE

A few things you don’t see on TV

Hunger Games: Spellers aren’t allowed to bring food or drinks on stage. “The semi finals goes for roughly 3 hours. The only food is water and cookies until the rounds are over,” Mahankali says.

Bathroom Breaks: “You have to wait until there is a commercial break and you carefully sprint over to the bathroom and then you sprint back,” Estep says. “You have to wait until the next commercial break before you can come back on stage. Sometimes there will be people missing who are not actually out of the competition, but they try to make it as hard to notice as possible.”