The champion of the county bee wins an all-expenses-paid trip to Washington, D.C., to compete in the 2012 Scripps National Spelling Bee from May 29 through June 1, 2012. There will be other prizes for the county’s top spellers, including monetary awards from the 21st Century Education Foundation, Encyclopaedia Britannica and Merriam-Webster reference books, gift certificates, plaques, and a trophy for the winner’s school.
Five of the spellers in the bee are returning school champions. A partnership of Anne Arundel County Public Schools and the 21st Century Education Foundation, the 2012 bee is sponsored by ClearEdge IT Solutions, Koch Foundation, Preston Sheffenacker Properties, and Capital-Gazette Communications.
The Scripps National Spelling Bee is a not-for-profit educational promotion sponsored by The E.W. Scripps Company in conjunction with businesses and community organizations around the world. Each sponsor organizes a spelling bee program in its community with the cooperation of area school officials: private, charter, parochial, public, and home schools.
The first national bee was held in 1925. Locally, more than 1,500 students competed in their school’s spelling bee for the right to advance to the county competition.
The event begins at 10 a.m. in the Board Room of the Parham Building, located at 2644 Riva Road in Annapolis.
Participants in this year’s bee are:
● Eelaaf Zahid, Grade 6, Annapolis Middle School
● Heather Faison, Grade 8, Arundel Homeschool Group
● Alexander Molina, Grade 8, Arundel Middle School*
● Danielle Grant, Grade 8, Brooklyn Park Middle School
● Elsa Flynn, Grade 6, Central Middle School
● David Seidl, Grade 5, Chesapeake Academy
● Jasmine Elkhoga, Grade 6, Chesapeake Bay Middle School
● Young Chung, Grade 8, Corkran Middle School
● Katie Sullivan, Grade 6, Crofton Middle School
● Nathan Plaza, Grade 8, George Fox Middle School
● Maia Brown, Grade 7, Indian Creek School*
● Kendall Schneider, Grade 7, Key School
● Kaitlyn Lyons, Grade 7, Lindale Middle School
● Aayush Katwala, Grade 6, MacArthur Middle School
● Maura Campbell, Grade 8, Magothy River Middle School
● Megan Papali, Grade 6, Meade Middle School
● Shad Newland, Grade 8, Old Mill Middle School North
● Autumn Trakney, Grade 7, Old Mill Middle School South
● John Tahsuda IV, Grade 8, School of the Incarnation
● LeAn Nguyen, Grade 8, Severn River Middle School*
● Duffy Burns, Grade 7, Severn School
● Tyler Smith, Grade 7, Severna Park Middle School
● Jahkel Wilkerson, Grade 8, Southern Middle School
● Jonathan Pett, Grade 8, St. John the Evangelist
● Hope Lomvardias, Grade 8, St. Martin’s Lutheran School*
● Elyse Keenan, Grade 8, St. Mary’s Elementary School
● Katrina Stubbs, Grade 7, St. Paul’s Lutheran
● Olivia Simmons, Grade 7, Wiley H. Bates Middle School*
(* – returning school champion)
Source: AACPS
