2023 Scripps National Spelling Bee

PAUL LOEFFLER

Bee television analyst is passionate about veterans

AKASH VUKOTI

Speller has been everywhere since his first Bee in 2016

JASON REYNOLDS

Bestselling author offers inspiring words to students

Bee Week 2023: May 28–June 2

a new word order takes over as executive director THE

guide to the spellers

the buzz

by the numbers

the schedule take note

survey says …

all about books

paul loeffler

look around your beeswax

history lesson 2022 champion

where are they now puzzle paradise

the executive director scripps' ceo well-earned recognition last word

new look, same great buzz

Welcome to the 2023 Scripps National Spelling Bee

Step 1: Get curious.

Step 2: Brainstorm.

Step 3: Put it all together.

Our VISION

MISSION is to illumifamiliar faces in many of our new materials, celebrating the essence

shine your light on the world.

Corrie Loeffler Executive Director Scripps National Spelling Bee

published & produced by

Scripps National Spelling Bee (Corrie Loeffler, Executive Director)

Cincinnati Magazine (Ivy Bayer, Publisher)

editor-in-chief

Michael Perry (The E.W. Scripps Company)

contributing editors

Tyler Hyde (Scripps National Spelling Bee)

Becca McCarter (The E.W. Scripps Company)

Molly Miossi (The E.W. Scripps Company)

Tammy Riddle (Scripps National Spelling Bee)

Amanda Boyd Walters ( Cincinnati Magazine )

art director

Emi Villavicencio ( Cincinnati Magazine )

reporters

Akshay Ahuja, Amy Blakely, Becca McCarter, Molly Miossi, Michael Perry, Shannon Russell photographers

Mark Bowen, Glenn Hartong, Malinda Hartong, Blake Williams

production director

Vu Luong ( Cincinnati Magazine )

operations director

Missy Beiting ( Cincinnati Magazine ) business coordinator

Erica Birkle ( Cincinnati Magazine )

Just Getting Started

BEEKEEPER IN THE BEE KEEPER

How could we resist? Lila Rechel (speller 148) of Erwin, North Carolina, has been a honey beekeeper for three years. The 13-year-old from Coats-Erwin Middle School advanced to the Scripps National Spelling Bee by winning the Harnett County (N.C.) Schools Spelling Bee. “Bees are a crucial part of our world’s ecosystem, but with so many people using pesticides, they could very well go extinct one day,” she says. “My job as a beekeeper is to make sure this doesn’t happen.” This is Rechel’s first trip to the national competition.

the buzz

BY TK LOREM ISPUM

Gender

spellers by the numbers

We’re usually all about the letters, but here’s a little math about the 231 spellers competing in the 2023 Scripps National Spelling Bee.

Spelling in Their Blood

22 spellers have relatives who have participated in a combined 38 Scripps National Spelling Bees.

Spell-peaters

Coming into this year, 49 spellers have previously competed in the Scripps National Spelling Bee.

2023 bee week schedule

S U SU N D A Y, M A Y 2 8 28

speller registration

Hall of Champions –

Maryland Foyer

2 to 5 p.m.

rule the word challenge

Hall of Champions –

Maryland Foyer

6 to 9 p.m.

M O MO N D A DA Y, M A Y AY 2 9 29

pop-up carnival

Outdoor area beside the Hall of Champions

2 to 4 p.m.

camp bee

Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center (various meeting spaces)

These are ticketed events.

opening ceremony

Maryland Ballroom

7:30 to 8:30 p.m.

Doors open at 7 p.m.

T U E S ES D A Y, M A Y AY 3 0 30 preliminaries

(rounds 1 and 2)

Maryland Ballroom

9 a.m. to 4:15 p.m.

Streamed live on ION Plus, Bounce XL and spellingbee.com.

Each speller will compete in up to two of the preliminaries. See the Contest Rules of the 2023 Scripps National Spelling Bee for detailed format information: spellingbee.com/rules.

rounds 1 and 2

by speller number:

9 to 10:35 a.m.

Spellers 1 to 60

10:45 a.m. to 12:20 p.m.

Spellers 61 to 120

12:30 to 2 p.m.

Spellers 121 to 180

3 to 4:15 p.m.

Spellers 181 to 231

preliminaries (round 3)

Maryland Ballroom

4:25 to 7:25 p.m.

Streamed live on ION Plus, Bounce XL and spellingbee.com.

from clothing to couture: how French brought “class”to English

Peter Sokolowski, editor-at-large, Merriam-Webster

Maryland Ballroom

8 to 8:45 p.m.

W E D N E S D A WEDNESDA Y, M A Y MAY 3 1 31

quarterfinals

Maryland Ballroom

8 a.m. to 12:45 p.m.

Streamed live on ION Plus, Bounce XL and spellingbee.com.

semifinals

Maryland Ballroom

2:30 to 6:30 p.m.

Onstage remarks begin at 2:15 p.m.

Streamed live on ION Plus, Bounce XL and spellingbee.com.

broadcast will air from 8 to 10 p.m. on ION and Bounce.

keynote presentation

Jason Reynolds, #1 New York Times

bestselling author and the Library of Congress’ national ambassador for young people’s literature

Maryland Ballroom

7:30 to 8:30 p.m.

T H U R HUR S D SD A Y, J U N JUN E 1

demystifying the digital SAT College Board

Maryland Ballroom

9 to 9:45 a.m.

“it’s not bragging if it’s true”

Zaila Avant-garde, 2021 champion and author of “It’s Not Bragging If It’s True” and “Words of Wonder from Z to A”

Maryland Ballroom

10 to 10:45 a.m.

The presentation, hosted by actress Yvette Nicole Brown—star of the Bounce original TV show “Act Your Age”—will be followed by a book signing with Zaila in the Hall of Champions.

camp bee

Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center (various meeting spaces)

These are ticketed events.

finals

Maryland Ballroom

8 to 10 p.m.

Onstage remarks begin at 7:15 p.m. Broadcast live on ION and Bounce.

F R FR I D A DA Y, J U N JUN E 2

self-guided national mall experience

Bus transfer from the Gaylord to the National Mall and back

This is a ticketed event.

awards banquet

Maryland Ballroom

6 to 8 p.m.

This is a ticketed event.

speller farewell party

Riverview Ballroom

8 to 11 p.m.

help desk hours

Providing information and assistance to spellers and Bee Week attendees

Hall of Champions –Maryland Foyer

Sunday, May 28 2 to 7 p.m.

Monday, May 29

9 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.

Tuesday, May 30

8 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Wednesday, May 31

7 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.

Thursday, June 1

8 a.m. to 11 p.m.

Friday, June 2

9 a.m. to noon

Questions?

Call (513) 516-2358

media desk hours

Providing information and assistance to media members

Hall of Champions –Maryland Foyer

Tuesday, May 30

7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.

Wednesday, May 31

7 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.

Thursday, June 1 9 a.m. to noon 5 to 11 p.m.

media contacts

Rebecca McCarter rebecca.mccarter@ scripps.com, (513) 410-2425

Michael Perry michael.perry@ scripps.com, (513) 259-4718

You can reach the Media Desk at (513) 516-2357. Questions and requests can also be sent to media@spellingbee.com

take note

Here’s a look at some of the competitors in the 2023 Scripps National Spelling Bee.

RETURNINGFINALISTS

THEFIELD

THEVETERANS

Kirsten Tiffany Santos (speller 200)

Surya Kapu (speller 213)

THE yOUNGEST

THE OLDEST

Emily Demlow (speller 94) from Battle Creek, Michigan, who is just 8 days older than Juan Rondeau (speller 37)

LONG DISTANCE

Lance Sanchez (speller 48) from Hagåtña, Guam, is traveling the farthest for this

U.S. COVERAGE

THE TWINS

FULL HOUSE

ISPUM

Achyut Ethiraj (speller 68) from Fort Wayne, Indiana; Avi Randhawa (speller 14) from Riverside, California; Gavin Sigua (speller 69) from Indianapolis; Owen Smielewski (speller 99) from Lapeer, Michigan; and Faizan

get to know the spellers

We asked. They answered. You will learn a lot about them.

Do you have any superstitions?

“Every year on New Year’s Eve when the clock strikes 12, my family and I eat 12 grapes, one for each of the 12 months in the year.”

Kayla Tenney Villalobos (speller 51), Coeur d’Alene, Idaho

“Not really, except that I have to eat eggs the morning before every bee.”

Virginia

“I believe that there are aliens because in the observable universe and of the millions of planets that can sustain life, it is actually dumber to think they don’t exist.”

Maximus Katsoulis (speller 105), Bemidji, Minnesota

“I like to wear a certain amount of accessories on

Do you have any superstitions?

“I wear a lucky necklace at every spelling bee I attend.”

Julissa Negron (speller62)Roscoe,Illinois

nothing matters in sports more than feeling good, in my opinion.”

Reid Shaw (speller 67), Bloomington, Indiana

Who is your favorite cartoon character?

“Oggy from Oggy and the Cockroaches was one of my favorites when I watched TV with my father at a very young age.”

Sarvadnya Kadam (speller 22), Visalia, California

“SpongeBob SquarePants. I love that fun, fantastically whimsical character.”

Arren Feliciano (speller 120), Henderson, Nevada

“Po from Kung Fu Panda. He’s very funny and good at protecting the public from danger.”

Tyler Kulikosky (speller 178), Schuylkill Haven, Pennsylvania

“Mickey Mouse. He is classic.”

Richard Tang (speller 137), Oneonta, New York

“Tom from Tom and Jerry. I watched the show a lot when I was younger.”

Vihaan Mahajan (speller 109), Brandon, Mississippi

Who is your role model?

“Ludwig van Beethoven. He composed his most famous compositions when he was going deaf. That sounds almost superhuman to me. So, he is my inspiration.”

Baruni Jakkula (speller 110), Greenville, Mississippi

“Isaac Newton because he was curious and con-

Jayden Zheng (speller 190), Amarillo, Texas

“Rosa Parks because she stood up for Black people by refusing to give her seat to a white man.”

N’Adom Darko-Asare (speller 45), Accra, Ghana

in a funny and interactive way.”

Adarsh Venkannagari (speller 93), Acton, Massachusetts

“My parents because they are kind, optimistic, perseverant and have a good sense of humor.”

Aaditya Aiyer (speller 179), Clinton, New Jersey

What is your favorite place to visit?

“China, to visit my grandparents, but unfortunately, I haven’t been there in three years due to coronavirus.”

“My grandmother’s place—Vijayawada and Guntur, India.”

Raana Parchuri (speller 177), Pittsburgh

“Holden Beach because it’s fun.”

Isaac Boyce (speller 229), Bridgeport, West Virginia

“Universal Studios in Florida.”

Archer Thompson (speller 166), Oklahoma City

What’s your favorite word?

“Aarachibutyrophobia. I like peanut butter but like the way the word sounds.”

Advait Nishit (speller 157), Strongsville, Ohio

“Zugzwang. It has an extremely fun pronunciation.”

Audrey Dougherty (speller 186), Sevierville, Tennessee

“Elysian. It just sounds so pretty, and it means ‘something divine, something celestial.’ The way the word is (spelled) is also beautiful, and I just feel drawn to this word.”

Eleanor Jeavons (speller 23), Waterloo, Ontario

“Whakapapa, because it is fun to say.”

Lindsey Jessen (speller 73), Cedar Rapids, Iowa

“Sesquipedalian because it is a long word that describes the use of long words. How ironic. ”

Sophia Chan (speller 49), Honolulu

What’s your favorite food?

“Noodles. Because there are so many choices.”

Alec Gallahan (speller 90), Waldorf, Maryland

“Anything sweet. I have a hereditary sweet tooth. Anything sweet appeals to me.”

Kavya Jakasania (speller 125), Jersey City, New Jersey

“Steak.”

Alex Ottens (speller 65), Lyndon, Illinois

“When the cheese, marinara sauce and the bread combine, it tastes great.”

Rishaan Reddy (speller 79), Baton Rouge, Louisiana

“Bun Bo Hue. I hold many memories of this food throughout my whole life. Besides the sentimentality, I would say my mom cooks it incomparably to anyone else.”

Bella Van (speller 85), Severn, Maryland

Andrew Macdonald (speller 163), Steubenville, Ohio

“Chicken Biryani. It’s an Indian dish that’s really good as it has a lot of mixes of spices and other ingredients that make it glow.”

Shrethan Botla (speller 191), Leander, Texas

What career do you want to pursue?

“Filmmaking.”

Joey Constantine (speller 165), Cortland, Ohio

“I would like to be a geneticist.”

Aditi Muthukumar (speller 27), Westminster, Colorado

“I want to work for NASA, but I am not sure of exactly what I want to do.”

Sydney Seavey (speller 3), Fairbanks, Alaska

“My dad is my role model, and I want to be a pulmonary critical care and sleep disorders specialist like him.”

Srinidhi Rao (speller 56), Hinsdale, Illinois

“Professional soccer player.”

What career do you want to pursue?

“I want to pursue a career in the medicine as a family doctor.”

Shwetha Jayakumar (speller204),Odessa,Texas

Aiden Pham (speller 80), Lafayette, Louisiana

“Paleontology.”

Tia Geisler (speller 152), Mentor, Ohio

What is your favorite candy?

“Sweetarts Ropes. Nice texture and perfect level of sweetness.”

Christian Miller (speller 169), Glen Mills, Pennsylvania

“Sour Patch Kids. I love how the candy starts sour, then sweet and sugary. I suppose it’s symbolic of many things such as school, activities and memories. It reminds me of a process that you hate at

abhor it, but once it’s gone, it remains in your memories.”

Annette Chu (speller 53), Chicago

Evangelene Hill (speller 91), Fruitland, Maryland

What’s your hidden talent?

Sariah Titus (speller 189), Abilene, Texas

Ananya Rao Prassanna (speller 140), Apex, North Carolina

Aiden Wijeyakulasuriya (speller 230), Middleton, Wisconsin

Who is your favorite athlete?

Ajay Gundlapalli (speller 206), Odessa, Texas

Clara Mervak (speller 98), Kalamazoo, Michigan

Cheyenne Hensley (speller89),Middletown,Maryland

Lizzy Beers (speller 34), Estero, Florida

Janice Nketsiah (speller 47), Accra, Ghana

Elijah Elledge (speller 106), Mankato, Minnesota

What’s your favorite way to study? (speller 167), Tulsa, Oklahoma

Joy-Den Wilson (speller 225), Drakes Branch, Virginia

Luke Brown (speller 39), Naples, Florida

What’s your hidden talent?

Emma Liu (speller 151), Hudson, Ohio

Rohith Konduri (speller 224), Virginia Beach, Virginia

Bryan Milstead (speller 219), Harrisonburg, Virginia

Mychelle Kumah (speller 46), Accra, Ghana

Orlando Fernández Valera (speller 180), San Juan, Puerto Rico

What is your favorite TV show?

Evander Turner (speller 40), Clermont, Florida

Luc Calagsing (speller 183), Conway, South Carolina

Lucas Lee (speller 208), Port Lavaca, Texas

Micah Sterling (speller 139), Watertown, New York

Jacob Theaker (speller 162), Bridgeport, Ohio

Ananya Rao Prassanna

Hannah Kauffman

What is your favorite movie?

movies.”

Oviya Amalraj (speller 220), South Riding, Virginia

“The Sound of Music. It’s a classic, beautifully written movie. The plot and songs are phenomenal, and it’s a tradition for our family to watch it every New Year’s Eve.”

Joscelyn Ryan (speller 95), Fraser, Michigan

“Gladiator.”

Khadijah Abdul-Rahman (speller 58), Forsythm, Illinois

“Miracle. Miracle is the story of an underdog U.S. men’s hocktime over the Soviet Union (and then went on to win the gold medal at the 1980 Winter Olympics).”

“Top Gun: Maverick.”

New Jersey

What famous person would you most like to have dinner with?

“Sudha Murty. I would enjoy a dinner stories that she has created. Her animated stories keep me happy.”

Achyut Ethiraj (speller 68), Fort Wayne, Indiana

Who is your favorite actor?

“Emma Stone. She was quite fabulous in Cruella.”

“Robert Downey Jr. Avengers.”

What’s your favorite school subject?

“Science. Every day I get to learn new and interesting topics. Lab days are the best.”

“Prue Leith. She seems composed and kind, so having conversation with her would be pleasant. She is also known for her cooking skills and good taste in food, so whatever we would eat would probably be good. I also know nothing else about her, and that would mean we would have plenty to talk about.”

Carolina

“Neil Armstrong. I would like to ask him questions

Avinav Prem Anand

“Dr. Jacques Bailly because I’ve listened to his voice so much on the Word Club app that I feel like we are old friends.”

“Tom Cruise because he is a very good actor in Top Gun: Maverick.”

What’s your favorite school subject?

“Physics because it has lots of math in-

at its most abstract level.”ifornia

“History. I enjoy reliving past stories and learning about their journey.”

“Math. I am interested in numbers and logics.”

Illinois

through drawing and painting.”

Ayesha Syed (speller 86), Windsor Mill, Maryland

Interested readers can sign up for free at spellingbee.com/ book-club. You can also visit the website to invite friends to

BARUNI JAKKULA (speller 110)

Favorite book? “Dog Man: Lord of the Fleas” • By Dav Pilkey

Why? “The book ‘Lord of the Fleas’ is incredibly comical and full of jokes and entertainment.”

AUDREY

DOUGHERTY (speller 186)

Favorite book? The “Dear America” Series • By various authors

Why? “It tells the stories of girls from every background possible, who survived the most remembered tragedies in history.”

ORLANDO FERNÁNDEZ

VALERA (speller 180)

Favorite book? “Outcasts United: The Story of a Refugee Soccer Team That Changed a Town” • By Warren St. John

Why? “It shows how a group of struggling boys changed a city due to teamwork, commitment and resilience. These values were instilled by Luma Mufleh, an immigrant from Jordan who coached them and formed the team.” Spellers

buzzworthy books

“How Do You Spell Unfair?: MacNolia Cox and the National Spelling Bee”

Written by Carole Boston Weatherfood and illustrated by Frank Morrison

This picture book, written for kids ages 7–10, recounts the story in Maryland, where segregation was the law. It’s the story of her

“It’s

Written by Zaila Avant-garde with Marti Dumas

“Words of Wonder from Z to A”

Written by Zaila Avant-garde and Illustrated by Keisha Morris

BY TK LOREM ISPUM

INSIDE * Advice for collecting autographs

favorite Spellebrities

would you sign my

PHOTOGRAPHS BY HARTONG DIGITAL MEDIA

bee keeper, please?

One of the great Bee Week traditions is asking spellers and officials to sign your Bee Keeper, which includes photos and information on all 231 spellers participating in the 2023 Scripps National Spelling Bee. You can see how it's done by checking out these pictures from last year’s Bee. Autographs from pronouncer Dr. Jacques Bailly (above left) and head judge Mary Brooks (far left) are popular, of course.

Meet

F U n F FA Ct

Stephen developed a game called “The Awesome Quiz,” and none of his classmates have beaten it.

#1 STEPHEN WAYNE BRISCOE

14 years old • 8th grade

Hanceville Middle School • Alabama Kiwanis Foundation (Birmingham, Alabama)

F U n F FA Ct

Lucas loves running cross country and track, and at his season, he set a personal record for the 400m at 1:02.

#2 LUCAS RYAN PARKER

14 years old • 8th grade

Gruening Middle School • Anchorage Daily News (Anchorage, Alaska)

F U n F FA Ct

Sydney enjoys ballet and currently dances with the Junior Company at North Star Ballet.

#3 SYDNEY LAURA

SEAVEY

12 years old • 6th grade

Barnette Magnet School • Fairbanks North Star Borough School District (Fairbanks, Alaska)

#4 OPAL MISHRA

12 years old • 6th grade

F U n F FA Ct

Opal loves teacup Pomeranians.

Basha Accelerated Middle School • Arizona Educational Foundation (Phoenix, Arizona)

#5 KAREN BAABA OPOKU-APPOH

14 years old • 8th grade

Marana Middle School •

F U n F FA Ct

When Karen meets someone about their birth date to personality matches their zodiac sign.

F U n F FA Ct

Tazbah has schools’ cultural which are opportunities to share Navajo culture.

#6 TAZBAH JULIA SPRUHAN

13 years old • 8th grade

Tséhootsooí Middle School • Navajo Times

Autographs

F U n F FA Ct

Zeeshan likes to create new recipes by

and he writes them down in a cookbook he created.

#7 ZEESHAN M. ANOWER

10 years old • 5th grade

John P. Woods Elementary School • Electric

#8 JEAN P. BOUNKOUSONH

14 years old • 8th grade

F U n F FA Ct

Jean enjoys whether it be sewing or any

Leon H. Ollivier Middle School • KERO Channel

Meet the Spellers

#9 DHRUV S. SUBRAMANIAN

12 years old • 7th grade

F U n F FA Ct

Dhruv has started a boutique, all-natural cosmetic chain and is currently in the process of marketing his product.

F U n F FA Ct

Justin can imitate accents, and his Asian and British accents make his friends laugh.

#10 JUSTIN L. TRAN

13 years old • 8th grade

Chaparral Middle School • SNSB California Regional Bee (Diamond Bar, California)

Windemere Ranch Middle School • San Ramon Valley Rotary Club (Danville, California)

Autographs

#11 JULIA

MURILLO-NUÑEZ

12 years old • 6th grade

F U n F FA Ct

Julia adopted her cat, Concha, an American Shorthair, on Valentine’s Day.

Ballington Academy for the Arts & Sciences • California)

#12 LEO Y. C. WU

11 years old • 5th grade

F U n F FA Ct

Leo has won junior division of Fresno County’s MTAC Solo Competition for piano.

Bud Rank Elementary School • the Fresno County Superintendent of Schools (Fresno, California)

#13 AARON LIM

14 years old • 8th grade

F U n F FA Ct

On spare weekends, Aaron enjoys going to Barnes & Noble to read manga.

F U n F FA Ct

Avi loves to build with Lego bricks, and his favorite Lego set is the Sesame Street set.

#14 AVIJEET S. RANDHAWA

12 years old • 7th grade

El Rancho Charter School • The Orange County Register (Irvine, California)

Auburndale Intermediate School • Riverside

F U n F FA Ct

Morgan enjoys reading mythology books because different religious practices pique his interest.

#15 MORGAN T. HARMS

12 years old • 6th grade

All Saints Day School • of Education (Salinas, California)

F U n F FA Ct

Phoebe has excellent public speaking skills and has spoken in front of an audience of more than 2,500 people.

#16 PHOEBE ADELAIDE LAGUNA

10 years old • 5th grade

Granite Mountain Charter School • San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools (San Bernardino, California)

F U n F FA Ct

Jup enjoys doing volunteer work at the free community kitchen in his local Sikh place of worship.

#17 JUPHARNOOR SINGH

13 years old • 8th grade Heritage Intermediate School

• San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools (San Bernardino, California)

F U n F FA Ct

Mihir made an award-winning Arduino project called the Checklistinator that helped him pack for school.

#18 MIHIR S. KONKAPAKA

12 years old • 7th grade

Mesa Verde Middle School

#19 VIKRANT CHINTANABOINA

14 years old • 8th grade

F U n F FA Ct

Vikrant likes to watch and play soccer, which is his favorite sport.

Discovery Charter School - Falcon Campus • San Ramon Valley Rotary Club (San Ramon, California)

F U n F FA Ct

Shradha

enjoys building websites using HTML.

#20 SHRADHA ANJANA RACHAMREDDY

13 years old • 7th grade

• The San Diego Union-Tribune (San Diego, California) Autographs

BASIS Independent Silicon Valley Upper School

• San Ramon Valley Rotary Club (San Ramon, California)

F U n F FA Ct

Arth tries his best to live an environmentally conscious lifestyle, and his favorite color is green.

#21 ARTH C. DALSANIA

14 years old • 8th grade

Camarillo Academy of Progressive Education • SAGE Publishing (Thousand Oaks, California)

#22 SARVADNYA

F U n F FA Ct

Sarvadnya enjoys competitive swimming and being in the pool after a long day of spelling bee preparation.

JITENDRA KADAM

12 years old • 6th grade

Oak Grove Elementary School • Visalia Times-Delta/Tulare Advance-Register (Visalia, California)

F U n F FA Ct

Eleanor speaks French and wants to learn Greek, Latin, German, Norwegian and Polish.

#23 ELEANOR ELIZABETH

JOY JEAVONS

13 years old • 7th grade

MacGregor Senior Public School • ECU Regional Bee (Kitchener, Ontario, Canada)

Autographs

F U n F FA Ct

Chuxia loves reading fantasy novels, and she is currently writing several of her own.

#24 CHUXIA HUANG

13 years old • 8th grade

Halifax Grammar School • Cape Breton University (Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada)

F U n F FA Ct

Isaac has two pitbulls named Fritz and Zahra.

#25 ISAAC JOSEPH BROGAN

11 years old • 5th grade

Maranatha Christian Academy

• WFCU Credit Union (Windsor, Ontario, Canada)

F U n F FA Ct the second grade.

#26 SOFIA M. TOMMEY WU

10 years old • 5th grade

Douglass Elementary School

• Boulder Valley School District (Boulder, Colorado)

Autographs

F U n F FA Ct

Aditi loves to write mysteries and fantasies in her free time.

#27 ADITI MUTHUKUMAR

12 years old • 7th grade

Hulstrom Options K-8 • The Denver Post (Denver, Colorado)

F U n F FA Ct

Nathan is the second eldest of six kids, ranging in age from 14 years old to 1 year old.

#28 NATHAN DANIEL

SETTEVENDEMIE

11 years old • 6th grade

Mabelle B. Avery Middle School • Noah Webster House & West Hartford Historical Society (West Hartford, Connecticut)

F U n F FA Ct

Declan’s fastest solve time for a 2x2 Rubik’s Cube is 6.52 seconds.

#29 DECLAN R. DURAND

11 years old • 5th grade

Love Creek Elementary School • Sussex County Public Libraries (Georgetown, Delaware)

F U n F FA Ct

Zion really likes his cats, Percy, Junior and Daisy.

#30 ZION D. MILLER

14 years old • 8th grade

Seaford Middle School • Seaford District Library, Inc. (Seaford, Delaware)

F U n F FA Ct

Jerald Jude is the head boy chorister at Washington National Cathedral.

#31 JERALD JUDE CHAVEZ CAMPANA

13 years old • 8th grade

St. Albans School • The Washington Informer (Washington, District of Columbia)

F U n F FA Ct

During the pandemic, Lesly learned to play the piano from watching videos online.

#32 LESLY HERNANDEZ MARTIN

14 years old • 8th grade

Kenmoor Middle School • The Washington Informer (Washington, District of Columbia)

F U n F FA Ct

Kenley has lived in eight different places including Guam, Rhode Island

#33 KENLEY C. NEAL

14 years old • 8th grade

Ramstein Middle School • European PTA (Defense and State Department Schools, Europe)

F U n F FA Ct

Lizzy can rollerblade backwards and do all sorts

#34 ELIZABETH F. BEERS

14 years old • 8th grade

Bonita Springs Middle Center for the Arts • Lee County Spelling Bee (Fort Myers, Florida)

F U n F FA Ct

By age 5, Westin had memorized all of the countries and their capitals, and he could identify

#35 WESTIN T. MARTIN

13 years old • 8th grade

Abraham Lincoln Middle School • WJXT (Jacksonville, Florida)

#36 DEV SHAH

14 years old

• 8th grade

F U n F FA Ct

Dev loves to go to new places such as South Dakota and Colorado, which he

Morgan Fitzgerald Middle School • SNSB Region One Bee (Largo, Florida)

F

U n F FA Ct

tennis competitively and loves playing matches against other people.

#37 JUAN CRISTOBAL RONDEAU

14 years old • 8th grade

Westminster Christian School • Miami Herald (Miami, Florida)

F U n F FA Ct

Lancaster’s unique name comes from one of his dad’s favorite actors, Burt Lancaster.

#38 LANCASTER J. GRAMER

11 years old • 5th grade

Franklin Academy Cooper City • Miami Herald (Miami, Florida)

Autographs

F U n F FA Ct

Luke is an avid Pittsburgh Steelers fan and hosts an annual in-person NFL fantasy football draft with his friends in his garage.

#39 LUKE WALTON BROWN

14 years old • 8th grade

North Naples Middle School • Collier County Public Schools (Naples, Florida)

F U n F FA Ct

Evander enjoys collecting Pokémon cards.

#40 EVANDER TRUE TURNER

14 years old • 8th grade

Pinecrest Lakes Academy • Orlando City SC (Orlando, Florida)

F U n F FA Ct

Sumayya loves baking and has helped her mother and sister bake desserts.

#41 SUMAYYA AHMAD

11 years old • 6th grade

Panama City Advanced School • Envision Credit Union (Tallahassee, Florida)

F U n F FA Ct

Bruhat is an avid reader, and he likes competitions.

#42 BRUHAT SOMA

11 years old • 6th grade

Turner Bartels K-8 School • SNSB Region One Bee (Tampa, Florida)

Autographs

#43 SAISURYA S.

LAKKIMSETTI

14 years old • 8th grade

F U n F FA Ct

Sai is the for both the National Science Bee and National History Bee for 2022-2023.

Stallings Island Middle School • Georgia Association of Educators (Tucker, Georgia)

F U n F FA Ct

Matthew enjoys learning about foreign languages.

#44 MATTHEW R. BABER

13 years old • 7th grade

Rising Starr Middle School • Georgia Association of Educators (Tucker, Georgia)

F U n F FA Ct

N’Adom plays trumpet in her school and was once chosen to play at the National Theatre in Ghana.

#45 N’ADOM ABOAGYEWAA DARKO-ASARE

12 years old • 6th grade

DPS International Ghana • Young Educators Foundation (Accra, Ghana)

#46 MYCHELLE

F U n F FA Ct

Mychelle loves to watch documentaries about the history of the world on National Geographic and other sites.

SEWOENAM KUMAH

13 years old • 7th grade

Soul Clinic International School • Young Educators Foundation (Accra, Ghana)

F U n F FA Ct

Janice participated in Junior Olympics and won two gold medals and one bronze medal.

#47 JANICE AFIBA NKETSIAH

12 years old • 7th grade

St. Francis of Assisi • Young Educators Foundation (Accra, Ghana)

F U n F FA Ct

Lance wants to become a computer programmer and has been studying Python, JavaScript and HTML/CSS.

#48 LANCE HARREL SANCHEZ

12 years old • 6th grade

SIFA Learning Academy Charter School • Rotary Club of Guam (Hagåtña, Guam)

Meet

F U n F FA Ct

Sophia and her little brother, Ethan, once embarked on a one-year journey of trying to raise

#49 SOPHIA WAI CHAN

13 years old • 7th grade

Iolani School • Hawaii State Spelling Bee (Honolulu, Hawaii)

F U n F FA Ct

Eliana has a collection of crazy socks.

#50 ELIANA MARIE CASTRO

14 years old

• 8th grade

South Hills Middle School • Boise State University (Boise, Idaho)

F U n F FA Ct

Kayla enjoys any dissection opportunities she can get and aspires to become a surgeon.

#51 KAYLA B. TENNEY

VILLALOBOS

14 years old • 8th grade

Coeur d'Alene Charter Academy • Idaho Character Foundation (Coeur d'Alene, Idaho)

F U n F FA Ct

Navtaj’s record time for solving a Rubik’s Cube is 24 seconds.

#52 NAVTAJ K. SINGH

12 years old • 6th grade

Lincoln Middle School • Lewiston Tribune (Lewiston, Idaho)

F U n F FA Ct

Annette likes to organize her own space because it

#53 ANNETTE BEATRICE CHU

13 years old • 7th grade GEMS World Academy Chicago • SNSB Illinois Regional Bee (Chicago, Illinois)

F U n F FA Ct

Lukas earned his black belt in tae kwon do in October 2021 and has been training weekly

#54 LUKAS ANDREW NOWAK

12 years old • 6th grade

Drauden Point Middle School • Will County

Autographs

F U n F FA Ct

Emme loves Legos, and color is periwinkle.

#55 EMELIA NOELLE T. WHITEBONE

13 years old • 7th grade

Forest Park Middle School • Pepper Construction and Wight & Company (Chicago, Illinois)

F U n F FA Ct

Srinidhi has DuPage Pads to help homeless children with their school supplies.

#56 SRINIDHI R.S. RAO

13 years old • 7th grade

Hinsdale Middle School • ComEd and Tyndale House Publishers (Chicago, Illinois)

Meet the Spellers

F U n F FA Ct

Steven is a devoted fan of the Chicago Fire FC MLS team and remains optimistically supportive of the team.

#57 STEVEN JIANG

14 years old • 8th grade

Whitney M. Young Magnet High School • Chicago Public Schools (Chicago, Illinois)

#58 KHADIJAH ABDUL-RAHMAN

14 years old • 8th grade

F U n F FA Ct

Khadijah is a black belt in tae kwon do.

Maroa Forsyth Middle School • Macon-Piatt

Autographs

F U n F FA Ct

Arlenn can solve the Rubik’s Cube in just 40 seconds.

#59 ARLENN JAMES LESKO

13 years old • 7th grade

Sandwich Middle School • DeKalb Regional

#60 MASON M. COULTHARD

12 years old • 6th grade

F U n F FA Ct

Mason taught himself to make origami objects by watching YouTube, and he recently made a bouquet for his mom and grandma.

Lena-Winslow Junior High School • Carroll/ Education (Freeport, Illinois)

F U n F FA Ct

Francis enjoys learning about geography and and he loves trying new

#61 FRANCIS NNODI

14 years old • 8th grade

St. Catherine of Siena School • Kane County

F U n F FA Ct

Julissa writes her own piano compositions in her spare time.

#62 JULISSA ELYSE NEGRON

13 years old • 8th grade

Roscoe Middle School • Boone-Winnebago

F U n F FA Ct

Vishrut wrote story at the age of 8.

#63 VISHRUT KINIKAR

13 years old • 7th grade

Cary Junior High School • McHenry County

#64 AKSHAY MANIKANDAN

14 years old • 8th grade

F U n F FA Ct

Akshay has participated in Vex Robotics and won at the state level in 2019 and 2022.

Murphy Junior High School • Grundy/Kendall Illinois)

Meet the Spellers

F U n F FA Ct

Alex likes to play card games, including euchre and blackjack.

#65 ALEXANDER OTTENS

14 years old • 8th grade

Prophetstown Lyndon-Tampico Middle School

• Illinois)

#67 REID SHAW

F U n F FA Ct

Reid is an avid baseball player and hopes to play college baseball.

12 years old • 6th grade University Elementary School • Indiana University (Bloomington, Indiana)

F U n F FA Ct

Daphne enjoys skiing and

#66 DAPHNE RAMATI GIL

14 years old • 8th grade

Alan B. Shepard Middle School • Lake County

Illinois)

F U n F FA Ct

Achyut loves to collect car and plane models, and he currently has nearly 50 cars.

#68 ACHYUT ETHIRAJ

13 years old • 7th grade

Maple Creek Middle School • SNSB Indiana Regional Bee (Fort Wayne, Indiana)

F U n F FA Ct

Gavin loves to travel, and two of his favorite places are Singapore and Germany.

#69 GAVIN CAESAR SIGUA

12 years old • 7th grade

Sycamore School • IU School of Education at IUPUI (Indianapolis, Indiana)

F U n F FA Ct

Sharanya enjoys writing acrostic poems and loves contributing articles to community magazines.

#70 SHARANYA KAR

10 years old • 5th grade

West Lafayette Intermediate School • Lafayette Adult Resource Academy (Lafayette, Indiana)

Autographs

#71 CRAIG ULREY

13 years old • 7th grade

F U n F FA Ct

Craig enjoys playing his 1935 King Silvertone trumpet that he inherited from his greatgrandfather.

Heritage Hall Christian School • Ball State University - WIPB-TV (Muncie, Indiana)

F U n F FA Ct

Wes loves to watch magicians and do magic tricks, especially card tricks.

#72 WESLEY COOPER

11 years old • 5th grade

Kesling Intermediate School • Kankakee Valley REMC (Wanatah, Indiana)

F U n F FA Ct

Lindsey loves to climb around the ninja course in her basement.

#73 LINDSEY GRACE JESSEN

11 years old • 6th grade

Marion Home School Assistance Program • The Dispatch Argus (Davenport, Iowa)

F U n F FA Ct

Manu is a tae kwon do red belt who is striving towards his black belt.

#74 MANU SANDESH SRIPATHI

13 years old • 8th grade

California Trail Middle School • Olathe Public Schools (Olathe, Kansas)

Autographs

#75 TYLER NOLTE

14 years old • 8th grade

F U n F FA Ct

At the age of 3, Tyler surprised his parents by reading a headline aloud from the local newspaper.

Nemaha Central Middle School • Kansas Press Association (Topeka, Kansas)

F U n F FA Ct

Noah enjoys playing many instruments including trumpet, piano, drums and guitar.

#76 NOAH BRUMFIELD

13 years old • 7th grade

James Madison Middle School • Visit Hopkinsville (Hopkinsville, Kentucky)

F U n F FA Ct

Isabella was the winner of her school talent show for singing “I Wanna Rock,” by Twisted Sister.

#77 ISABELLA LANE CARVER

11 years old • 5th grade

Hanson Elementary School • Visit Hopkinsville (Hopkinsville, Kentucky)

F U n F FA Ct

Ian knows way too much about Pokémon.

#78 IAN JIE-MING GIBSON

13 years old • 7th grade

Bowling Green Junior High School

• Visit Hopkinsville (Hopkinsville, Kentucky)

F U n F FA Ct

Rishaan, who is in the class band, can play three instruments, but his favorite is the drums.

#79 RISHAAN REDDY

10 years old • 5th grade

LSU Laboratory School • University Laboratory School (Baton Rouge, Louisiana)

#80 AIDEN PHAM

13 years old • 7th grade

F U n F FA Ct

Aiden has a talent for ice skating, roller skating and skiing.

Scott Middle School • Kiwanis Club of Lafayette (Lafayette, Louisiana)

F U n F FA Ct

Kai wants to become a U.S. senator when he is older.

#81 KAI RICHARDSON

13 years old • 8th grade

Maplewood Middle School • SagamoreHill Broadcasting LLC (Lake Charles, Louisiana)

F U n F FA Ct

Nayara writes and directs her own musicals, including “Rat in Manhattan” with her brother as a rodent who wants to become a businessman.

#82 NAYARA SONALI DE SILVA-AHMED

13 years old • 7th grade

Metairie Park Country Day School • New Orleans Chapter of The Links (New Orleans, Louisiana)

F U n F FA Ct

Sahil has visited over 50 different national parks, national monuments, national forests and national reserves.

#83 SAHIL S. THORAT

13 years old • 8th grade

Caddo Middle Magnet

• Louisiana State University Shreveport (Shreveport, Louisiana)

F U n F FA Ct

Evan has a third-degree black belt in tae kwon do.

#84 EVAN T. TRIEU

12 years old • 7th grade

St. Brigid School • Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram (Portland, Maine)

F U n F FA Ct

Bella enjoys journaling in order to express her thoughts, and she likes to draw in her free time.

#85 BELLA NGOC VAN

12 years old

• 7th grade

MacArthur Middle School • Anne Arundel County Public Schools (Annapolis, Maryland)

F U n F FA Ct

Ayesha loves to travel and has been to many places, including Canada, London, Scotland, Dubai and India.

#86 AYESHA SAMEEN SYED

14 years old

• 8th grade

Southwest Academy

• Maryland Sports (Baltimore, Maryland)

Autographs

F U n F FA Ct

Larry and his younger sister, Julia, have a pet guinea pig who lives in the basement.

#87 LAWRENCE H. LIAO

11 years old • 5th grade

Cold Spring Elementary School • The Meakem Group (Bethesda, Maryland)

F U n F FA Ct

Navya likes learning new languages, such as French and Korean.

#88 NAVYA DWIVEDI

12 years old • 6th grade

Clarksville Middle School • Howard County Library (Columbia, Maryland)

F U n F FA Ct

Cheyenne taught herself to read at the age of 3.

#89 CHEYENNE DAWN HENSLEY

13 years old • 7th grade

Blended Virtual Middle School • Frederick County Public Libraries (Frederick, Maryland)

F U n F FA Ct

Alec enjoys learning about robotics, engineering and coding.

#90 ALEC B. GALLAHAN

14 years old • 8th grade

Mattawoman Middle School • Charles County Public Schools (La Plata, Maryland)

Autographs

#91 EVANGELENE

F U n F FA Ct

Evangelene’s spelling acumen does not come from studying word lists; it comes from having always been a reader.

SUZANNE KENNEDY HILL

14 years old • 8th grade

Wicomico Day School • University of Maryland

Eastern Shore (Princess Anne, Maryland)

F U n F FA Ct

Tanoshi poured a full bottle of soda into his regional spelling bee trophy and tried to drink it in one gulp.

#92 TANOSHI INOMATA

10 years old • 4th grade

Winship Elementary School • Boston Centers for Youth & Families (Boston, Massachusetts)

F U n F FA Ct

Adarsh only wears mismatched socks.

#93 ADARSH REDDY VENKANNAGARI

9 years old • 4th grade

Paul P. Gates Elementary School • The Daily Item (Lynn, Massachusetts)

F U n F FA Ct

Emily can often be found playing with her two younger brothers or her mischievous golden retriever, Gracie.

#94 EMILY OLGA DEMLOW

14 years old • 8th grade

Lakeview Middle School • SNSB Michigan and Ohio Regional Bee (Battle Creek, Michigan)

F U n F FA Ct

Joscelyn competed in the regional spelling bee four years in a row and only won on her fourth attempt.

#95 JOSCELYN REBECCA RYAN

14 years old • 8th grade

St. Mary Catholic School • Macomb Intermediate School District (Clinton Township, Michigan)

F U n F FA Ct

In her spare time, Anwesha enjoys trying different makeup looks and techniques.

#96 ANWESHA AHMED

13 years old • 8th grade

Davison Elementary-Middle School • WXYZ Channel 7 (Detroit, Michigan)

F U n F FA Ct

Brady has a collection of over 800 marbles and builds tracks and obstacles for the marbles to test their speed.

#97 BRADY A. BOWERS

13 years old • 7th grade

North Rockford Middle School • Kent Intermediate School District (Grand Rapids, Michigan)

F U n F FA Ct

Clara enjoys painting with acrylics because it helps her relax.

#98 CLARA E. MERVAK

11 years old • 5th grade

Northglade Montessori School • Discover Kalamazoo (Kalamazoo, Michigan)

#99 OWEN DAVID SMIELEWSKI

13 years old • 7th grade

F U n F FA Ct

Owen has two dogs, Sawyer and Skye, and a cat named Peanut.

Ruth Fox Middle School • The County Press (Lapeer, Michigan)

F U n F FA Ct

Gabe’s fastest time solving a Rubik’s Cube is 15 seconds.

#100 GABE J. GRIERSON

14 years old • 8th grade

O.J. DeJonge Middle School • Ludington Daily News (Ludington, Michigan)

F U n F FA Ct

When he grows up, Sidhanth wants to be an NBA player.

#101 SIDHANTH NANDHAN VETRIVEL

11 years old • 5th grade

Brown Elementary School • The Herald Palladium (St. Joseph, Michigan)

F U n F FA Ct

Hazel and her dad are avid viewers of vintage horror movies, such as “The Shining,” “Rosemary’s Baby” and “Child’s Play."

#102 HAZEL OLSEN DANZIGER

14 years old • 8th grade

Leland Public School • Traverse City RecordEagle (Traverse City, Michigan)

F U n F FA Ct

Aryan is a self-taught keyboard player and loves to play chess.

#103 ARYAN R. KHEDKAR

12 years old • 7th grade

Baker Middle School • Oakland Schools Education Foundation (Waterford, Michigan)

Autographs

F U n F FA Ct

Vihaan likes to solve a Rubik’s Cube.

#104 VIHAAN KAPIL

9 years old • 3rd grade

Agamim Classical Academy • Success Beyond the Classroom (Arden Hills, Minnesota)

F U n F FA Ct

Maximus’s dream job is to become a streamer or YouTuber.

#105 MAXIMUS ALEXANDER KATSOULIS

14 years old • 8th grade

Blackduck Public School • Lakes Country Service Cooperative (Fergus Falls, Minnesota)

F U n F FA Ct

Elijah enjoys bothering his older sister, even though he loves her.

#106 ELIJAH DEE ELLEDGE

11 years old • 5th grade

Immanuel Lutheran School • South Central Service Cooperative (North Mankato, Minnesota)

Autographs

F U n F FA Ct

Roberto is a speed reader who can read between 350 and 400 words per minute on average.

#107 ROBERTO NOVIS

VILLASBOAS

12 years old • 6th grade

St. Francis of Assisi School • Southeast Service Cooperative (Rochester, Minnesota)

F U n F FA Ct

Will is using a language app to learn Dutch.

#108 WILLIAM D. RAUSCH

12 years old • 7th grade

Royalton Middle School • Sourcewell (Staples, Minnesota)

F U n F FA Ct

Vihaan asked to learn piano after reading the Goosebumps book, “Piano Lessons Can Be Murder."

#109 VIHAAN JAYANT MAHAJAN

13 years old • 8th grade

Northwest Rankin Middle School • The Commercial Dispatch (Columbus, Mississippi)

F U n F FA Ct

Baruni enjoys drawing, painting and conducting simple science experiments with her brother.

#110 BARUNI JAKKULA

13 years old • 8th grade

T.L. Weston Middle School • The Commercial Dispatch (Columbus, Mississippi)

F U n F FA Ct

Aanya plays chess both competitively and with her friends, and is a two-time city chess champion.

#111 AANYA SHETTY

12 years old • 7th grade

John Warner Middle School • Columbia Missourian (Columbia, Missouri)

F U n F FA Ct

Garrett is a huge sports fan, supporting the KC Royals, KC Chiefs, Milwaukee Bucks and the Tampa Bay Lightning.

#112 GARRETT FRY

13 years old • 7th grade

Delta Woods Middle School • Mid-Continent Public Library (Independence, Missouri)

F U n F FA Ct

Mariah recently played the role of Queen her school’s production of “The Rules of Comedy."

#113 MARIAH KATE COFFEY

12 years old • 6th grade

Harrisonville Middle School • Raymore-Peculiar School District (Peculiar, Missouri)

F U n F FA Ct

Colby likes watching basketball and going to NBA games, especially to see his favorite Antetokounmpo.

#114 COLBY JOHN ARMES

12 years old • 6th grade

F U n F FA Ct

Tyler loves Legos, and he could build Lego sets in his room for days.

#115 TYLER QU TANG

10 years old • 5th grade

The Summit Preparatory School • A.C.E.S. (Rolla, Missouri)

St. Joseph Catholic Church • Three Rivers College (Poplar Bluff, Missouri) Autographs

F U n F FA Ct

Julianna loves anything that sparkles.

#116 JULIANNA K. MULLINS

14 years old • 8th grade

Pleasant View R-VI • Mosaic Life Care Foundation (St. Joseph, Missouri)

F U n F FA Ct

Sonia has a black belt in tae kwon do, an accomplishment she completed in two years by days a week.

#117 SONIA BABUL KULKARNI

12 years old • 7th grade

John Burroughs School • Saint Louis University (St. Louis, Missouri)

F U n F FA Ct

In fourth grade, Natalie won a class party for being the only student to read a million words during the school year.

#118 NATALIE WINTER RUSS

14 years old • 8th grade

Clancy Elementary School • Montana Television Network (Bozeman, Montana)

F U n F FA Ct

Sarah loves writing, especially poems.

#119 SARAH GRACE FERNANDES

11 years old • 5th grade

St. Stephen the Martyr Catholic School • Omaha Sports Commission (Omaha, Nebraska)

Autographs

F U n F FA Ct

Arren enjoys participating in theater and playing piano.

#120 ARREN E. FELICIANO

13 years old • 7th grade

St. Viator Parish School • The Public Education Foundation (Las Vegas, Nevada)

Meet

#121 SARINA ALI

12 years old • 7th grade

F U n F FA Ct

Sarina enjoys learning about physics and the universe.

Omar Haikal Islamic Academy • The Public Education Foundation (Las Vegas, Nevada)

F U n F FA Ct

Iris has been playing ice hockey since she was 5 years old and is on two lacrosse teams, one soccer team and one track team.

#122 IRIS A. LAMOREAUX

14 years old • 8th grade

Plymouth Elementary School • New Hampshire Union Leader (Manchester, New Hampshire)

Autographs

F U n F FA Ct

Atharv’s family loves to visit Disney World and has been there eight times so far.

#123 ATHARV NARVEKAR

14 years old • 8th grade

Montgomery Upper Middle School • Somerset County Library System (Bridgewater, New Jersey)

#124 LUCAS KE

14 years old • 8th grade

F U n F FA Ct

Lucas plays piano and got to perform at Carnegie Hall in 2019.

Englewood Cliffs Upper School • Bergen County Division of Cultural & Historic Affairs (Hackensack, New Jersey)

F U n F FA Ct

Kavya loves math and history.

#125 KAVYA S. JAKASANIA

13 years old • 7th grade

Frank R. Conwell Middle School • Hudson County City, New Jersey)

F U n F FA Ct

Aria ran a 5K when she was 8 and plays saxophone in her school band.

#126 ARIA KHAMBHATI

9 years old • 4th grade

Mount Pleasant Elementary School • Sidelines and Stages (Maplewood, New Jersey)

F U n F FA Ct

Mariam is studying Arabic, Turkish and Japanese, and she won a spelling bee competition in Arabic this year.

#127 MARIAM BELKOUCHI

13 years old • 7th grade

Maarif School • Sidelines and Stages (Maplewood, New Jersey)

F U n F FA Ct

Laura loves to practice baking in her spare time.

#128 WIDLEY L. JOSEPH

14 years old • 8th grade

Neptune Middle School • Press Communications (Neptune, New Jersey)

#129 KEITH LEE

11 years old • 6th grade

F U n F FA Ct

For the past two years, Keith has made the All-Star team for the Sunset Little League that he plays in.

Albuquerque Academy • The Albuquerque Journal (Albuquerque, New Mexico)

F U n F FA Ct

Saheb’s artwork was selected for the Williamsville Central School District Art Show in 2020 and 2022.

#130 DEBOSRIJO SAHEB SARKAR

12 years old • 6th grade

F U n F FA Ct

Markus loves to explore mathematical concepts and often spotresearches fun facts and statistics.

#131 MARKUS FERRARA

13 years old • 8th grade

Port Jervis Middle School • Orange-Ulster BOCES (Goshen, New York)

Mill Middle School • Corning Rotary Club (Corning, New York) Autographs

F U n F FA Ct

Noah is a huge New York Yankees fan and has attended several games at Yankee Stadium.

#132 NOAH A. KAPLAN

11 years old • 6th grade

Brinckerhoff Elementary School • SNSB New York State Regional Bee (Hopewell Junction, New York)

#133 BRIAN LIU

11 years old • 6th grade

Great Neck North Middle School

F U n F FA Ct

Brian enjoys collecting Pokémon cards with his sister, and so far, they have collected a couple of rare cards.

#134 LORA W. WU

12 years old • 7th grade

F U n F FA Ct

Lora visits Taiwan almost every year to see her grandparents and try foods and activities

• ScholarSkills for STARS (New Windsor, New York)

Hunter College High School

• ScholarSkills for STARS (New York, New York)

Autographs

F U n F FA Ct

Vale can recite over 200 digits of Pi and loves solving complex math equations.

#135 VALE ESPOSITO

13 years old • 8th grade

Robert F. Wagner Middle School • ScholarSkills for STARS (New York, New York)

F U n F FA Ct

Stephen inherited his love of mathematics from his grandfather, a worldrenowned mathematician.

#136 STEPHEN H. CHEHATA

14 years old • 8th grade

Canandaigua Middle School • Wayne-Finger Lakes BOCES (Newark, New York)

Meet the Spellers

F U n F FA Ct

Richard plays soccer and runs track, primarily the 800m and sprint medley relay.

#137 RICHARD L. TANG

13 years old • 8th grade

Oneonta Middle School • The Daily Star (Oneonta, New York)

F U n F FA Ct

Simran loves to travel and has been to places like India, Dubai and France.

#138 SIMRAN SANDERS

12 years old • 6th grade

Jamesville-Dewitt Middle School • The Post-Standard (Syracuse, New York)

Autographs

F U n F FA Ct

Micah visited Disney World

time this year, and his favorite ride was Avatar: Flight of Passage.

#139 MICAH RICHARD STERLING

10 years old • 5th grade

Brownville-Glen Park Elementary • Watertown Daily Times (Watertown, New York)

F U n F FA Ct

Ananya Rao enjoys playing badminton and basketball with friends.

#140 ANANYA RAO PRASSANNA

12 years old • 6th grade

Davis Drive Middle School • Carolina Panthers (Charlotte, North Carolina)

F U n F FA Ct

Peyton enjoys reading about Greek mythology.

#141 PEYTON MARLEA GOLDENSTEIN

14 years old • 8th grade

Clover Middle School • Carolina Panthers (Charlotte, North Carolina)

#142 REX DOVER

14 years old • 8th grade

F U n F FA Ct

Rex is a turophile and amazing places for cheese wherever he travels.

Belmont Middle School • Carolina Panthers (Charlotte, North Carolina)

F U n F FA Ct

Reyansh loves to volunteer for his mom’s business.

#143 REYANSH D. JOSHI

11 years old • 5th grade

Mills Park Elementary School • Carolina Panthers (Charlotte, North Carolina)

F U n F FA Ct

Rishi loves to play tennis and takes lessons on the weekends.

14 years old • 8th grade

The Brawley School • Carolina Panthers (Charlotte, North Carolina)

#144 RISHIDHARAN JAYAKUMAR

F U n F FA Ct

Logan has written several poems ranging in length from four to 62 lines and has memorized many of his shorter works.

#145 LOGAN AMERICUS EDWARDS

12 years old • 7th grade

Rosebud Schoolhouse • Carolina Panthers (Charlotte, North Carolina)

F U n F FA Ct

Isaiah avidly reads young adult fantasy books, and his favorite series is the Ranger’s Apprentice by John Flanagan.

#146 ISAIAH LEE HENRY

11 years old • 5th grade

Grady A. Brown Elementary School • Duke Affairs (Durham, North Carolina)

F U n F FA Ct

Angelo is a violinist in his school orchestra who has been selected for all-county and all-state orchestras.

#147 ANGELO SEI ALDOPH

13 years old • 7th grade

Max Abbott Middle School • Cumberland County Schools (Fayetteville, North Carolina)

F U n F FA Ct

Lila is a direct descendant of Betsy Ross and Francis Scott Key.

#148 LILA J. RECHEL

13 years old • 7th grade

Coats-Erwin Middle School • Harnett County Schools (Lillington, North Carolina)

F U n F FA Ct

Olivia played Anna in her school’s most recent theatre production, “Frozen Jr."

#149 OLIVIA CHARLOTTE TOLENTINO

14 years old • 8th grade Cleveland Middle School • Johnston County

F U n F FA Ct

Luna’s favorite place to visit is Hawaii and she has visited

islands: O’ahu, Kaua’i, Maui, Lana’i and The Big Island.

#150 LUNA SARA GASEVIC

13 years old • 7th grade Ben Franklin Middle School • Autographs

#151 EMMA LIU

13 years old • 7th grade

F U n F FA Ct

Emma is a nationally ranked tennis player and an orchestra concertmaster.

#152 TIA GEISLER

10 years old • 4th grade

F U n F FA Ct

Tia loves to travel with her family to places like Kalahari Resorts and Cedar Point.

Hudson Middle School • Akron Beacon Journal (Akron, Ohio)

Orchard Hollow Elementary School • ESC of the Western Reserve (Concord Township, Ohio)

Meet the Spellers

F

U n F FA Ct

Avinav is a black belt in tae kwon do.

#153 AVINAV PREM ANAND

12 years old • 6th grade

Olentangy Orange Middle School • Ohio University College of Business (Athens, Ohio)

F

U n F FA Ct

Bryce’s highestscoring bowling game was 263.

#154 BRYCE DAVID BECKLEY

14 years old • 8th grade

Dover Middle School • The Repository (Canton, Ohio)

Autographs

F U n F FA Ct

Tara is the co-founder called The Giving Tree, which helps underprivileged kids secure a better future.

#155 TARA RAKESH

14 years old • 8th grade

Ballyshannon Middle School • WCPO 9 (Cincinnati, Ohio)

#156 LIAM JAMES BEDINGHAUS

12 years old • 6th grade

F U n F FA Ct

When he grows up, Liam would love to be on the show “The Amazing Race” with his younger brother, Judah.

Mars Hill Academy • WCPO 9 (Cincinnati, Ohio)

F U n F FA Ct

Advait is an avid learner of geography and knows the capital city of every country.

#157 ADVAIT NISHIT

13 years old • 7th grade

Incarnate Word Academy • ESC of Northeast Ohio (Cleveland, Ohio)

F U n F FA Ct

Bridget played basketball during her school season in 2022, and she is learning how to play tennis.

#158 BRIDGET N. SMITH

13 years old • 7th grade

Durling Middle School • Educational Service Center of Lorain County (Elyria, Ohio)

F U n F FA Ct

Ope taught herself how to type fast at 8 years old.

#159 OPEMIPO PEARL BALOGUN

12 years old • 7th grade

Shawnee Middle School • The Lima News (Lima, Ohio)

F U n F FA Ct

Shaylynn enjoys baking, especially whole-wheat pumpkin different types of cookies and brownies.

#160 SHAYLYNN KAY DENNIS

14 years old • 8th grade

Beaver Local Middle School • Salem News, East Liverpool Review and The Morning Journal (Lisbon, Ohio)

F U n F FA Ct

Henry has been playing violin for nine years and is a member of three performing ensembles.

#161 HENRY WILLIAM

CORCORAN

14 years old • 8th grade

Veritas Classical Academy • The Marietta Times (Marietta, Ohio)

F U n F FA Ct

Jacob is a sixyear member of 4-H and shows market beef, swine and goats at the county fair.

#162 JACOB MANSELL THEAKER

14 years old • 8th grade

Martins Ferry Middle School • The Times Leader (Martins Ferry, Ohio)

#163 ANDREW MACDONALD

14 years old • 8th grade

F U n F FA Ct

Andrew enjoys saying random and awkward things to complete strangers to meet others with similar interests.

Bishop John King Mussio Junior High • The Herald-Star (Steubenville, Ohio)

F U n F FA Ct

Lainey is looking forward to joining her high school’s volleyball team next year.

#164 LAINEY GARDNER

14 years old • 8th grade

Crestview Middle School • The Blade (Toledo, Ohio)

F U n F FA Ct and producing a multi-season thriller show with his friends.

#165 JOSEPH STANLEY CONSTANTINE

13 years old • 7th grade

Lakeview Middle School • WFMJ Television, Inc. (Youngstown, Ohio)

F U n F FA Ct

Archer considers himself a nerd in many ways, from reading math books for fun to watching “Doctor Who."

#166 ARCHER THOMPSON

13 years old • 7th grade

Odyssey Leadership Academy • Oklahoma City Thunder (Oklahoma City, Oklahoma)

Autographs

F U n F FA Ct

Hannah has visited 38 states and has lived in four.

#167 HANNAH KAUFFMAN

13 years old • 7th grade

Regent Preparatory School of Oklahoma • 2 News Oklahoma (Tulsa, Oklahoma)

F U n F FA Ct

Rohan holds a black belt in tae kwon do.

#168 ROHAN JONATHAN SEKAR

13 years old • 8th grade

Lake Oswego Junior High School •

Pamplin Media Group (Portland, Oregon)

F U n F FA Ct

Christian is good with dogs and was a volunteer dog walker at a local animal shelter.

#169 CHRISTIAN JOHN MILLER

14 years old • 8th grade

Stetson Middle School • Chester County Intermediate Unit (Downingtown, Pennsylvania)

F U n F FA Ct

Kenzo has visited Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Mexico, Spain, Puerto Rico, Italy and Germany.

#170 KENZO VERON

14 years old • 8th grade

Lamberton Middle School • WITF: Public Media for Central Pennsylvania (Harrisburg, Pennsylvania)

Autographs

F U n F FA Ct

Priana has been doing karate for over four years and is currently black belt.

#171 PRIANA KHANT

14 years old • 8th grade

Pennridge Central Middle School • Pennsylvania State Education Association and Council for the Advancement of Public Schools (Montgomeryville, Pennsylvania)

F U n F FA Ct

Pranav plays tennis and saxophone.

#172 PRANAV ANANDH

14 years old • 8th grade

Garnet Valley Middle School • Delaware County Intermediate Unit (Morton, Pennsylvania)

F U n F FA

Ct

Ari’s favorite lessons to learn in school are those about math and writing.

#173 ARIELLE DAHAN

11 years old

• 5th grade

Vare-Washington Elementary School • WHYY (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)

F U n F FA Ct

Sandhana wants to make a difference in this world using science.

#174 SANDHANA RAJESH

12 years old • 6th grade

Fernwood Middle School • WHYY (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)

#175 JACK JIANG

13 years old • 8th grade

F U n F FA Ct

Jack likes to solve the Rubik’s Cube.

D. Newlin Fell School • WHYY (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)

F U n F FA Ct

Isaac has excellent coding skills in Python and MATLAB.

#176 ISAAC W. GEREMEW

11 years old • 5th grade

George L. Hess Educational Complex • WHYY (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)

F U n F FA Ct

Raana plays American football for his township, and he enjoys playing in the trenches, the offensive and defensive lines.

#177 RAANA PARCHURI

13 years old • 7th grade

Fort Couch Middle School • Pittsburgh PostGazette (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania)

F U n F FA Ct

Music is one of the most important things in Tyler’s life, and he does everything while listening to music.

#178 TYLER JOSEPH KULIKOSKY

14 years old • 8th grade

Blue Mountain Middle School • The Republican Herald (Pottsville, Pennsylvania)

F U n F FA Ct

Aaditya loves to build Lego creations, and he’s a huge “Harry Potter” and “Star Wars” fan. (He can’t pick just one!)

#179 AADITYA AIYER

13 years old • 7th grade

Clinton Township Middle School • Diamond City Sports (Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania)

F U n F FA Ct

Orlando enjoys traveling to various places and learning about different cultures.

#180 ORLANDO ANDRÉS FERNÁNDEZ VALERA

14 years old • 8th grade

Saint John's School

• Eureka Enrichment & Learning Center, Inc. (San Juan, Puerto Rico)

#181 PENELOPE J. SARGEANT

14 years old • 8th grade

F U n F FA Ct

Penelope enjoys horseback riding.

Saint Margaret School • The Valley Breeze (Lincoln, Rhode Island)

#182 SIQI FANG

14 years old • 8th grade

F U n F FA Ct

Siqi wishes to learn to violin, cello and electric guitar.

#183 LUC TEJADA CALAGSING

12 years old • 7th grade

F U n F FA Ct

Luc is the secretary of his school’s Beta Club.

Hanahan Middle School • The Post and Courier (Charleston, South Carolina)

Blackwater Middle School • Pee Dee Education Center (Florence, South Carolina)

#184 AIZA KHAN SOHERWARDY

14 years old • 8th grade

Autographs

F U n F FA Ct

Aiza loves to learn about people’s food preferences to get to know them better because certain foods hold memories.

R.P. Dawkins Middle School • USC Upstate (Spartanburg, South Carolina)

F U n F FA Ct

Charli sings professionally with her family’s touring Celtic band.

#185 CHARLI Z. FICKBOHM

14 years old • 8th grade

Patrick Henry Middle School

• University of South Dakota (Vermillion, South Dakota)

#186 AUDREY V. DOUGHERTY

13 years old • 7th grade

F U n F FA Ct

Audrey plays the cello and is an advanced member of the Knoxville Symphony Youth Orchestra.

Homeschool • Tennessee Titans (Knoxville, Tennessee)

Autographs

F U n F FA Ct

Rainaa takes special interest in French pastries and enjoys learning more about them.

#187 RAINAA THOMAS BHUPESH

14 years old • 8th grade

White Station Middle School

• University of Memphis (Memphis, Tennessee)

F U n F FA Ct

Armaan has been the Tennessee state chess champion for his school group for two consecutive years.

#188 ARMAAN SINGHVI

12 years old • 6th grade

Harding Academy • Tennessee Titans (Nashville, Tennessee)

F U n F FA Ct

Sariah is currently studying calculus.

#189 SARIAH L. TITUS

10 years old • 5th grade

Ortiz Elementary School • Kiwanis Club of Abilene (Abilene, Texas)

F U n F FA Ct

Jayden loves playing chess, and his favorite opening is the Caro-Kann.

#190 JAYDEN ZHENG

13 years old • 7th grade

Bonham Middle School • Education Credit Union (Amarillo, Texas)

F

U n F FA Ct

Shrethan likes playing and watching soccer as it’s his favorite sport.

#191 SHRETHAN B. BOTLA

14 years old • 8th grade

Meridian World Middle School • Sweet Success ATX (Austin, Texas)

#192 TARINI NANDAKUMAR

12 years old • 6th grade

F U n F FA Ct

Tarini is an animal lover, and she has two pets, Simba and Beau.

Challenger School - Avery Ranch • Sweet Success ATX (Austin, Texas)

Meet

F U n F FA Ct

Jaxon is a professional multitasker and math whiz.

#193 JAXON JACE ESCOBAR

11 years old

• 5th grade

Schallert Elementary School

• KRIS Communications (Corpus Christi, Texas)

F U n F FA

Ct

Sriya’s artwork was placed in the highest division in a school art competition.

#194 SRIYA GOMATAM

13 years old

• 7th grade

Coppell Middle School North

• Dallas Sports Commission (Dallas, Texas)

#195 FAIZAN ZAKI

11 years old • 5th grade

F U n F FA Ct

Faizan was the youngest speller in the 2019 Scripps National Spelling Bee.

F U n F FA Ct

Arnav enjoys folding origami and playing board games with his family and friends.

#196 ARNAV MAHESH TONDE

Skaggs Elementary School • Dallas Sports Commission (Dallas, Texas)

13 years old • 8th grade

Wiggs Middle School • EPISD Education Foundation (El Paso, Texas)

F U n F FA Ct

Brihasa loves to model miniature clay, including a mini Scripps National Spelling Bee trophy.

#197 BRIHASA REDDY VEDURU

10 years old • 5th grade

Bear Creek Intermediate School • Texas Christian University (Fort Worth, Texas)

F U n F FA Ct

Luke enjoys completing challenging math and coding problems given to him by his parents.

#198 LUKE DANIEL NGUYEN

12 years old • 6th grade

Brookside Intermediate School • Houston Community College (Houston, Texas)

F U n F FA Ct

Ishika tries to fence with her sister, but always ends up losing.

#199 ISHIKA NANDINI VARIPILLI

12 years old • 7th grade

Creekside Park Junior High School • Houston Community College (Houston, Texas)

Autographs

F U n F FA Ct

Kirsten was on the “Kelly Clarkson Show” last year.

#200 KIRSTEN TIFFANY SANTOS

12 years old • 7th grade

International Leadership of Texas - Katy • Houston Community College (Houston, Texas)

Meet the Spellers

F U n F FA Ct

Both Nathaniel’s and his brother Emmanuel’s names were taken from the Bible.

#201 NATHANIEL SANTIAGO RIMOCAL

14 years old • 8th grade

Lamar Bruni Vergara Middle School • Laredo Morning Times (Laredo, Texas)

F U n F FA Ct

Ava has read “Harry Potter and the HalfBlood Prince” an estimated 10 times.

#202 AVA MARIE FLORES

11 years old • 5th grade Rush Elementary School • Ramar Communications (Lubbock, Texas)

Autographs

F U n F FA Ct

Robbie’s favorite baseball player is Jose Altuve.

#203 ROBERTO LIONEL ORTIZ

13 years old • 8th grade

Incarnate Word Academy • Rio Grande Valley AIM Media Texas (McAllen, Texas)

#204 SHWETHA JAYAKUMAR

13 years old • 8th grade

F U n F FA Ct

Shwetha is her school’s student council president and organizes school events, including the talent show.

Young Women’s Leadership Academy • Midland Reporter-Telegram (Midland, Texas)

F U n F FA Ct

Siyona’s poem was included in the largest book ever published, “I am Texas,” a recent addition to Guinness World Records.

#205 SIYONAMITHRA KANDALA

11 years old

• 5th grade

Keystone School

• The Brauntex Performing Arts Theatre Association (New Braunfels, Texas)

F U n F FA Ct

Ajay has a black belt in karate, and he loves to argue.

#206 AJAY REDDY GUNDLAPALLI

13 years old

• 7th grade

Nimitz Middle School

• Ector County Independent School District (Odessa, Texas)

F U n F FA Ct

Akash’s favorite foods all start with the letter P: pizza, paneer, pasta, peanut chutney and perugu.

#207 AKASH VUKOTI

14 years old

• 8th grade

Homeschool

• San Angelo Association of REALTORS (San Angelo, Texas)

F U n F FA Ct

Lucas enjoys playing chess and solving the Rubik’s Cube; one day, he hopes to be in a Rubik’s Cube competition.

#208 LUCAS YOXIN LEE

12 years old

• 7th grade

Travis Middle School

• Victoria Advocate (Victoria, Texas)

F U n F FA Ct

Gabriella began making birthday popup cards about two years ago from watching YouTube videos.

#209 GABRIELLA EMILY CHIANG

14 years old • 8th grade College Station Middle School • Rapoport Holdings, LLC (Waco, Texas)

F U n F FA Ct

Wes taught himself to solve a Rubik’s Cube at the age of 10 by watching YouTube videos.

#210 WES CANYON UNDERWOOD

13 years old • 8th grade

Samuel Guy Pinder All Age School • The Ministry of Education (Nassau, The Bahamas)

F U n F FA Ct

Abdel-Malik is very active and loves to play soccer.

#211 ABDEL-MALIK MURAD BAZZAR

10 years old • 5th grade

Ricardo Richards Elementary School • The Virgin Islands Daily News (St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands)

F U n F FA Ct

Luke has red hair, but nobody else in his immediate or extended family has red hair.

#212 LUCAS K. JEPPESEN

14 years old • 8th grade

Albert R. Lyman Middle School • Southeast Education Service Center (Price, Utah)

F U n F FA Ct

Surya’s favorite movie series is “Lord of the Rings."

#213 SURYA SAI KAPU

14 years old • 8th grade

American Preparatory Academy - Draper 3 • The City Journals (Salt Lake City, Utah)

F U n F FA Ct

Elise has straddled the border between France and Switzerland, Switzerland and Italy, and Italy and France.

#214 ELISE COURNOYER

14 years old • 8th grade

Camels Hump Middle School • VTDigger (Rutland, Vermont)

Autographs

F U n F FA Ct

Ruby’s favorite video game is Splatoon 3.

#215 RUBY K. KADERA

13 years old • 8th grade

Kenmore Middle School • SNSB Region Two Bee (Arlington, Virginia)

F U n F FA Ct

Nathaniel loves to travel, and his favorite destination is to visit his family in Japan.

#216 NATHANIEL HERSEY

13 years old • 8th grade

Virginia Virtual Academy • The Daily Progress and News Virginian (Charlottesville, Virginia)

Meet the Spellers

F U n F FA Ct

Kamsi speaks two languages: English and Igbo.

#217 KAMSIYOCHUKWU P. EZUGWU

11 years old • 6th grade

O.T. Bonner Middle School • Big Brothers and Big Sisters (Danville, Virginia)

F U n F FA Ct

Luke plays the piano, guitar, cello and ukelele; he has been playing the piano since the age of 5.

#218 LUKE ANTHONY DIMASO

14 years old • 8th grade

St. William of York Catholic School • Central Rappahannock Regional Library (Fredericksburg, Virginia)

Autographs

F U n F FA Ct

Bryan was one of 15 winners in his age group nationally for NASA’s “Power to Explore” essay challenge.

#219 BRYAN DUONG MILSTEAD

13 years old • 8th grade

Skyline Middle School • Rockingham District Ruritans (Harrisonburg, Virginia)

F

U n F FA Ct

Oviya learned to solve the Rubik’s Cube in second grade.

#220 OVIYA AMALRAJ

12 years old • 6th grade

J. Michael Lunsford Middle School • Loudoun County Public Schools (Leesburg, Virginia)

#221 GRAHAM R. WOODRUFF

F U n F FA Ct

Graham has always been passionate about monkeys, and he hopes to someday study them in the wild.

14 years old • 8th grade Forest Middle School • The News & Advance (Lynchburg, Virginia)

F U n F FA Ct

Siya is learning tae kwon do and is currently at purple-belt level.

#222 SIYA A. SAMPATH

9 years old • 4th grade

J.W. Alvey Elementary School • InsideNoVa/ Prince William (Manassas, Virginia)

F U n F FA Ct

Charlotte studied forensic science last summer at the University of South Carolina Master Scholars summer camp program.

#223 CHARLOTTE H. WALSH

14 years old • 8th grade

Compass Homeschool Enrichment • Fairfax

F U n F FA Ct

Rohith likes to learn new languages.

#224 ROHITH V. KONDURI

13 years old • 7th grade

Norfolk Academy • WHRO Public Media (Norfolk, Virginia)

Meet

F U n F FA Ct

Joy-Den is teaching herself to speak French and to play the piano.

#225 JOY-DEN DEVINE WILSON

12 years old • 7th grade

Central Middle School • Richmond TimesDispatch (Richmond, Virginia)

#226 ELI AGMON SIMUNDZA

13 years old • 8th grade

F U n F FA Ct

Eli speaks three languages: English, Hebrew and Greek.

F U n F FA Ct

Sanchali participated in her school musical, “Xanadu Jr."

#227 SANCHALI A. BOHACEK

14 years old • 8th grade

Lakeside School • Town Hall Seattle (Seattle, Washington)

Blacksburg Middle School • The Roanoke Times (Roanoke, Virginia) Autographs

F U n F FA Ct

Madeline can solve a Rubik’s Cube in two minutes or less.

#228 MADELINE YVONNE FEINSTEIN

13 years old • 8th grade

Summersville Middle School • Charleston Gazette-Mail (Charleston, West Virginia)

F U n F FA Ct

Isaac loves video games, especially Minecraft, and hopes to attend college for engineering or coding.

#229 ISAAC T. BOYCE

13 years old

• 7th grade

Bridgeport Middle School • The Clarksburg Exponent-Telegram (Clarksburg, West Virginia)

F U n F FA Ct

In his free time, Aiden likes to solve various math puzzes such as sudoku and KenKen.

#230 AIDEN DEVMINA WIJEYAKULASURIYA

12 years old

• 7th grade

Blessed Sacrament School • Wisconsin State Journal (Madison, Wisconsin)

Autographs

F U n F FA Ct

Cooper watches documentaries for fun.

#231 COOPER TATE SMITH

12 years old

• 6 grade

Saratoga Middle/High School • Sweetwater County BOCES (Rock Springs, Wyoming)

speller guide

Meet the Scripps National Spelling Bee Team

CORRIE LOEFFLER Executive director

TAMMY RIDDLE Director, sales & marketing

CYBELLE WEEKS Director, operations

MOLLY BECKER Director, editorial

TYLER HYDE Marketing communications manager

KIM HARP Development manager

MAGGIE LORENZ Content manager

Meet the Scripps National Spelling Bee Team

EMILY HARE Editorial coordinator

AKSHAY AHUJA Editorial coordinator

JULIA FERMIER Program specialist

SHARISSE SANTOS Administrative assistant

HALEY GOETZ Program specialist

BRYAN WITT Regional partner relations specialist

Meet

DR. JACQUES BAILLY Pronouncer

DR. BRIAN SIETSEMA Associate pronouncer

MARY BROOKS

Head judge

Autographs

CHRISTIAN AXELGARD

KRISTIN HAWKINS

DR. KEVIN MOCH

DR. KAVYA

SHIVASHANKAR

FRANK CAHILL

SAMEER MISHRA

GEORGIA SCURLETIS

Officials and word panelists perform various roles throughout the year, including as judges, record keepers, pronouncers and content creators and reviewers.

Meet the Officials and Word Panelists

BARRIE TRINKLEBEN ZIMMER

Autographs

GEORGE THAMPY

PETER SOKOLOWSKI

MIRLE SHIVASHANKAR

JANE SOLOMON

speller guide

Meet the College Crew

AMELIA BALLINGALL

Northeastern University

KIMMIE COLLINS Indiana State University

JAIRAM HATHWAR Princeton University

ATHARV BHAVE

Penn State University

NIC GELYON St. Bonaventure University

ALLISON HENRY Vanderbilt University

speller guide

Meet the College Crew

ARJUN JAGJIVAN Princeton University

RYANA SARCAR Northeastern University

AMELIA SEWELL University of Florida

DEV JAISWAL Princeton University

DANIELLE SERRAO Cornell University

TARA SINGH Duke University

VANYA

SHIVASHANKAR Bee Week emcee

PAUL LOEFFLER Television analyst

ZAILA AVANT-GARDE , 2021 champion, and HARINI LOGAN , 2022 champion, were at the White House together in September 2022.

PHOTOGRAPH BY BECCA

watch every bee week moment, streaming live

Go to spellingbee.com to find where to watch and follow LIVE coverage of every speller!

preliminaries

TUESDAY, MAY 30

WEDNESDAY, MAY 31

WEDNESDAY, MAY 31

THURSDAY, JUNE 1 quarterfinals semifinals finals

Introducing the Scripps National Spelling Bee Regional Extension Program (REP)

The REP launched in the fall of 2022 to provide expert training and deeper engagement for our most dedicated volunteers and alumni, who earned the opportunity to:

• Organize and execute virtual regional spelling bees in areas without regional partners,

• Participate in focus groups and surveys, and

• Apply for future openings on our national Word Panel.

Ananya Mandrekar

Arjun Jagjivan

Bernadette Miao

Blake Bouwman

Christy Davis

Daniel Notman

David Rosen

Dev Jaiswal

Dhanya Tadipatri

Enya Hubers

Eugenia Tachie-Menson

Heidi Guenther

Ishan Ramrakhiani

Ishya Bhavsar

Jacob Williamson

Juan Nieves

Krishna Jagannathan

Marlene Schaff

Mary Hillmann

Mike Modica

Miranda Streifel

Ned Andrews

Nick Day

Patrinella Rolle

Robert Moy

Shiv Patel

Simon Ricci

Sonia Schlesinger

Sophia Lopez

Timothy Lau

William Weitzel

REP pronouncer Daniel Notman and head judge Dev Jaiswal name a champion in the New York Regional Spelling Bee. Spellers in select New York counties would have had no regional spelling bee without this REP-run competition.

Congratulations to Daniel Notman, the Bee’s Volunteer of the Year, for his service as pronouncer of the Central Texas Spelling Bee, sponsored by Rapoport Holdings, LLC.

Paul Loeffler

TV analyst is passionate about telling stories of war veterans. – MICHAEL PERRY

TOP FIVE Dr. Robert Loeffer raises a toast (top left), Paul Loeffler helped launch Central Valley Honor Flight, appeared on the Jeopardy! Teen Tournament (above left), and broadcasts Fresno State Sports, including football (above right)

keep your eyes peeled

Throughout Bee Week, these spellebrities will join Paul Loeffler on the broadcast, including during the preliminaries and quarterfinals. You also might see them around the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center during Bee Week.

Dr. Jacques Bailly

Mary Brooks

Zaila Avant-garde

The 2022 Scripps National

the

Harini Logan

Spelling Bee champion won after

Corrie Loeffler

Vanya Shivashankar

Dr. Brian Sietsema

Western Agency (Tuba City)

Northern Agency (Shiprock)

Central Agency (Chinle)

Fort Defiance Agency

United Nation

A map showing the fi agencies that make up Navajo Nation.

Eastern Agency (Crownpoint)

holding a reservation-wide spelling

For Navajo Youth, Spelling La’yilyaah (Success) Is Nizhóní (Beautiful)

really inspired me to do it, too.”

ABOUT THE NAVAJO NATION

The winner of the Navajo Times bee comes from a unique environment. The Navajo Nation covers 27,425 square miles in Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado and Utah—about the size of the state of West Virginia. According to Census data, almost a third of its 174,000 residents are under the age of 19. The Navajo Nation -

subdivisions called chapters.

According to a 2021 article in “Voices in rate of over 40 percent. In some areas of thening water.

“experiences the highest rates of food insecufood desert,” a place where residents lack acconvenience stores and 65 restaurants whileton and Gallup, New Mexico) have a total ofreliable transportation. Health care is both inadequate and to bring in interim help, recruiting some teachers from abroad -

“Natasha had never left

the reservation and in an airplane. Winning the spelling bee gave Natasha the amazing feat to

ervations or surrounding communities.

While the pandemic bumped classes online for millions -

woman to lead the newspaper.

STRUGGLES VS. STRENGTHS

The spelling bee program has become an important part of the Navajo Times

enthusiastic about basketball and other sports, but when it comes to the educational side, we thought we could make that balance,” Benal-dents. We knew there were students out there who could excel.”

reservation schools. Through recreation, counseling, academ-

Nathaniel Natonabah—whose last name means “warrior job is to oversee programs to combat drug and alcohol abuse,

bullying and other social ills, but he also organizes the agency’sber of Navajo Nation champs, including Haven and Spruhan. -

isolated from libraries, youth centers, family parks, shopping centers and often their peers,” she says. “Depending on which side of the fence you are on, some might say these are struggles. Others may think they are strengths. Those that say they are secluded from mainstream society say that we lack resources for the spellers. On the opposite spectrum, some use that to their advantage by dedicating their time to studying daily.”-

“Natasha was an inspiration to me. She did not have electricity or running water. She lived a very humble life in a traditional lamp. Before winning the Navajo Nation spelling bee, Natasha

soar. That was an amazing feat to witness.”

‘LASTING IMPRESSION OF WONDERFUL MEMORIES’

While participating in the Scripps National Spelling Bee isence for the Navajo Nation speller, as well as his or her family. -

cy, won the Navajo Nation spelling bee and a seat in the Scripps National Spelling Bee.

ney was accompanied to the Scripps National Spelling Bee by his sisters, his parents, his nephew and his grandparents.

lasting impression of wonderful memories for us all.”

native Hawaiian word that means “newcomer or stranger among the people of Hawaii.”

to teach our children that there is much more to life than what they know growing up on the Navajo Nation,” she says. “There are new places to go, new people to meet and new things to see.”

“there was no question that all of us had to be there as a familystormed ways to raise money and tried a variety of fundraising -

dertown Dormitory to attend and gradu-

University. “I hope one day that my children will return to the reservation and make the Navajo Nation a better place,”

Quite a Trip

(Clockwise from top left) The Navajo Nation flag; speller Kelvin Winney and his family in front of the White House; Kelvin and his nephew Mathus at Monument Valley just after Kelvin won the Navajo Nation spelling bee; Olivia Benally.

THE HAVEN YEARS

In recent years, the Haven family name has become synonymous with spelling bee success in the Navajo Nation. Kelly Haven won the Navajo Nation spelling bee and competed in the Scripps National Spelling Bee as a sixth grader in 2017, a seventh grader in 2018 and an eighth grader in 2019.

Benally calls the Haven family “a rare breed.” Not only do they value education, they also understand that spelling bees can help set kids on the road to success. Kelly Haven’s older brother, Matthew, and younger sisters, Hailey and Micah, have all won spelling bees at the school and agency level.

jo Nation capital, they have better access to basic services than many other reservation residents. There is a fast-food burger restaurant nearby and a Walmart within 30 miles. With mom working as a teacher and dad, Martin, serving as a minister at a local church, the family earns enough money to live comfortably.

is very important. Having a strong vocabulary will help them a great deal.”

By choice, the family home has never had a television—and the kids say that doesn’t bother them; they’ve grown up reading and doing arts and crafts to pass the time. That’s exactly how Dina and Martin Haven wanted to raise their kids. “Reading is a huge deal. It will take you places. Expose you to things,” Dina Haven says. “Words are very important. The spelling bee

Kelly Haven says she began dreaming of going to the Scripps National Spelling Bee in second grade after watching the movie “Akeelah and the Bee.” She studied hard and got lots of encouragement from teachers and her parents. When she made it to the Bee as a sixth grader in 2017, the family raised enough money for her parents and older brother to go, too. Friends, relativeslected donations via a GoFundMe page; Dina sold handmade jewelry and key chains.

By the time Kelly made her second trip to the Scripps National Spelling Bee, Dina had returned to the workforce. Funding the trip was easier. Younger sister Hailey got to tag along to Washington in 2018. The third year, little sister Micah got to go. Kelly’s spelling bee success “opened this door for us, for all of our kids,” Dina says.

Kelly remembers her time at the Scripps National Spelling Bee as both exciting and overwhelming. Once, she met up with a group of fellow contestants in the lobby and they asked her to join them in studying. Soon, she realized they were studying words she’d never heard before. “I was taken aback,” she says. “I thought, ‘These kids are so much more advanced than I am.’” But she wasn’t deterred.

clothing and jewelry she might wear to special Navajo gatherings. “I believed that showing my Navajo heritage was very important, especially in the national setting,” she says. That year, she went next two years, she made it through the preliminary rounds but

PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY OF DINA HAVEN

A Spelling Inspiration

(Clockwise from left) Kelly, Martin and Hailey Haven at the Smithsonian; Kelly and Micah Haven at the Bee; in 2017 Kelly Haven competed in full Navajo dress; Tazbah Spruhan, right, poses with Miss Navajo Nation 2022–23, Valentina Clitso, after winning the Navajo Nation bee.

was felled by the written test that was part of the competition structure at the time.

Each time a Navajo Nation champ goes to the Scripps National Spelling Bee, Benally asks them to write something about their experience that can be shared with the community. Kelly Haven penned a letter about her trip that was published in the Navajo Times:

“The things that I heard about before in books were a reality,” she wrote. “I had a trip—plane trips, making international friends, eating rare and exotic foods, making an appearance on ESPN, visiting the Nationals ballpark and National Arboretum, seeing my face on the billboard, and, most importantly, representing my school, my people and my family on the national stage. Thank you for all these memorable moments. I will never forget how it made me feel—phenomenal.”

Kelly Haven is now 18 and a senior at Window Rock High

uate as valedictorian of her class, and she plans to go to college to study business and nursing. She hopes someday to be the

This year, she gave a speech at the Navajo Nation spelling bee. Her message to Spruhan and the other con-

comfort zone, keep learning words.

BY MARK BOWEN AND COURTESY OF THE NAVAJO TIMES

“I’m living proof that if you set your mind to something, anything is possible. If I can do it, you can do it.”

MEET NAVAJO NATION SPELLING

CHAMP TAZBAH SPRUHAN

Speller 6 Tazbah Spruhan will bring a bit of her Navajo culture to this year’s Scripps National Spelling Bee stage. She’ll compete in traditional Navajo attire—a buttoned blouse with adornments, a skirt with sash belt, moccasins and jewelry.

Tazbah, 13, an eighth grader at Tséhootsooí

her seat in the national competition by winning the Navajo Nation spelling bee sponsored by the Navajo Times. Her parents—Bidtah Becker, who is Navajo and grew up in Albuquerque, N.M., and Paul Spruhan, who is not Navajo and hails fromtending law school in New Mexico and moved their family to the reservation because they both work for the Navajo Nation. Becker works for the

Navajo Nation president, and Spruhan is the assistant attorney

cities on the reservation. Tazbah’s family lives in a federal housing development where they have electricity, running water, internet service, cell phones and a television. While these are amenities many Americans take for granted, “they are luxuries that not everybody has on the reservation,” Tazbah says.

Tazbah and her older brother, Bahe, have grown up immersed in the Navajo culture. They attended a language immersion school to learn the Navajo language.

This year, Tazbah was named Miss Native American Princess for her school in an annual pageant where girls compete to show pride in their language and culture. For the talent portion of the competition, Tazbah explained symbols within a cradleboard, a traditional Navajo baby carrier, and sang.

She commuted back and forth so the family continued living -

big city as much as they expected to. They missed the simple, uncrowded—albeit rural and rustic—life of the Navajo Nation.

Unlike many former Navajo Nation spellers from past years,

Spelling Bee on TV and she doesn’t know what to expect, other

“I’m nervous,” says Tazbah, whose name means “warrior woman coming home.”

this far.”

BY SHANNON RUSSELL

CompetinginarecordsixScripps NationalSpellingBeeshasopened upaworldofopportunitiesfor AkashVukoti.

H E ’ S E V E HE’S EVE

Akash Vukoti is ubiquitous. That’s a word this 13-year-old might

R Y W H E R E RYWHERE

BY TK LOREM ISPUM

Akash says he’s thankful for the opportunity, and gratitude is a persistent theme in his life. Even in this interview, he often praises his parents, Dr. Krishna and Chandrakala Vukoti, and his sister Amrita, 15, a fellow national competitor in 2019, for their support and encouragement.

They’ve seen him go from a precocious, pint-sized dynamo to an internationally known personality. They’ve accompanied him to guest appearances on 10 TV shows, including “Little Big Shots,” “Steve Harvey,” “Jimmy Kimmel Live!,” “The Kelly Clarkson Show” and “Dancing with the Stars: Juniors.” They’ve been with him for commercials and documentaries, including

The last seven-plus years have been a testament to Akash’s his twin passions for language and learning. He has made a name for himself along the way.

“I want to thank the Scripps National Spelling Bee for giving and for millions of other kids to increase their literacy skills,” Akash says. “I’m truly, truly indebted to my parents and the Scripps National Spelling Bee because without them, I would not have gotten anywhere near here.”

Here, there and everywhere. To fully appreciate Akash’s trajectory, let’s go back to the very beginning.

A SPEL L I NG STAR IS BORN

MEDIA BL I T Z (Previous spread) Akash Vukoti appeared on "Dancing With the Stars: Juniors" and "Steve Harvey" as well as (this spread) "Jimmy Kimmel Live!," the U.K. version of "Little Big Shots" with Dawn French, and "Harry," with Harry Connick Jr.

pages and mumbled to himself as Harvey watched with a deadpan expression.

“This is exciting to you?” Harvey asked.

“Yes,” Akash said, drawing out the word as if Harvey had asked a silly question, never lifting his head as he pored over words.

The audience roared with laughter. They did the same throughout the show, like when Akash comforted Harvey with a hand on his shoulder or when Akash picked at his itchy nose.

The duo brought down the house with a spelling bee challenge. Akash was thoroughly tickled by Harvey’s misspellings and correctly spelled his own whopping 45-letter word—pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis, a favorite of many spellers—and he got it right.

Audience members gave him a standing ovation. Harvey high-

“The greatest of all time!” Harvey said. “He just spelled mononucleosis in a volcano!”

Akash’s parents loved the way Harvey gave Akash the freedom to be himself because it paralleled their own encouragement of their son. Dr. Vukoti says the childhoods he and his wife had in India were geared towards getting jobs, and not enjoying childhood.

“We missed out on childhood for sure, and we did not want that to happen to our kids. America gives all that freedom, so kids do not miss their childhood and do what they love,” Dr. Vukoti says. “We let them be kids and enjoy whatever they like, whatever they love.”

It didn’t take long to see that Akash loved people, education and the limelight.

BUILDING A BRAND

The Scripps National Spelling Bee has been a near-constant in Akash’s life as the years have progressed. He tied for 323rd place in 2018, tied for 51st in 2019, tied for 76th in 2021 and tied for 89th in 2022.

In the meantime, his star power has taken an international shine. He was a shoo-in for “Dancing with the Stars: Juniors,” in which he placed sixth, and a BBC documentary called “The Human Body: Secrets of Your Life Revealed” that focused on the human brain.

His YouTube channel grew accordingly and to date has had 100 million views. For Akash, it’s the ideal format to combine his

strengths, which include speaking in front of a camera and sharing information about languages, history and current events.

One could also call his YouTube presence part of the Akash Vukoti brand.

at his age, hasn’t thought about his eclectic experiences and contributions from that perspective. As he considers it, he says a person’s content forms an identity and that identity is a brand, so in his case he does have a brand and it’s “educational and inspirational.”

“Education is not that much appreciated in a lot of social cir-

cles in comparison to entertainment. There’s not many people you can actively see doing both education and entertainment, combining them together and making something that people will want to watch and that people will learn,” Akash says.

Akash, who is homeschooled by his mother, is passionate about sharing information with others. He has several series on his YouTube channel with that function, including Word of the Day and Weekend News Review, in addition to an array of Top 10 lists and forays into subjects that interest him.

Take hummingbirds, for example. After marveling about the function as pollinators—Akash created a video of hummingbirdbirds, others might too. He was right. More than 1,400 likes and 81 comments followed.

Mini lessons like those have resonated with viewers around the world. Akash has nearly 10,000 views on a recent segment more than 7,700 views on a six-minute episode called “Do Fish Sleep?” and 7,100 views on a three-minute breakdown of Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter.

Viewer comments are typically supportive and complimentary. Some viewers praise Akash for breaking down concepts and providing information. Others remember him from the Steve Harvey shows.

The engagement keeps the channel, and Akash’s brand, going strong.

“With YouTube, we have comments from around the world in over 190 countries. I’m super, super grateful,” Akash says. “If I can quickly take the time to thank the fans and the commenters and anyone who watches the videos, big thank you. It’s a lot of well-wishers and I’m so glad to have this community that watches the videos that I make.”

Un-BEE-lievable

Bee appearances:

2016: Tied for 172 nd place

2018: Tied for 323 rd place

2019: Tied for 51 st place

2021: Tied for 76 th place

2022: Tied for 89 th place

A BEE LEGACY

This brings us back to Akash’s sixth Scripps National Spelling Bee. Akash, a self-proclaimed “Bee baby,” turns 14 on May 29 during Bee Week. He hopes this will be his best performance yet at the Bee. He’s sure he’ll have lots of fun as he mingles with other participants who share his love of spelling.

And what about spelling does Akash enjoy so much?

“I basically fell in love with the concept of spelling and the sequence of the letters that form the words, the building blocks of the language that we speak, one of the most widely spoken languages in the world. The concept of the English language is such a fascinating thing for me,” Akash says.

Orthography, the spelling system of a language, long has captivated him. So has etymology, the study of words’ origins and the way their meanings have changed throughout history. Knowing a language’s structures makes it easier for Akash to predict the correct spelling of a word given in the Bee. He says German-rooted spellings are easier for him to break down than Irish, Scottish or Welsh.

Akash’s preparation for spelling bees includes familiarizing roots and understanding exceptions.

That doesn’t mean he gets all his words right. But he gets some very important ones correct, like “baronetcy” to win his regional spelling bee in February and qualify again for the national competition.

The Bee has shaped Akash while providing him with opportunities he had never dreamed possible. He’s excited about prospects for the future and more adventures in becoming who he is meant to be. His parents are also eager to see where Akash goes in life, guided by the principles they have instilled.

“What we want to make sure is that whatever Akash does

FANCY FOOTWORK Akash may have appeared on “Dancing With the Stars Jr.” (above), but he also kept spelling, at the national bee in 2019 (left), and at the 2023 San Angelo regional bee this year (far left)

should help not only him but our community, our people, and the United States. Being a good citizen is the goal,” Dr. Vukoti says.

When he was very young, Akash wanted to become an astronaut and explore outer space. Then, when he was 6, he joked with Harvey that his dad was “mad” because he’d decided to become a TV host instead.

Akash is keeping his options open. And much like Akash, those pathways are ubiquitous.

“Maybe linguistics is on the table. I’m interested in coding. Maybe I can revolutionize the computer science world. I’ve always been interested in politics. Maybe I could become the president. I’ve always wanted to aim for the stars, aim for the moon,” Akash says.

“All I can say right now is that there are plenty of things that I would want to do in the future. If there’s anything I know I will be, I would say it’s probably an older Akash.”

BY MARK BOWEN

dic·tion·ar·y

History of the American Dictionary

Editor Peter Sokolowski shares quirky facts about our favorite book.

BY AMY BLAKELY

For expert spellers, Merriam-Webster’s Unabridged is a beloved best friend. A constant nemesis. The holy grail of orthography, etymology and philology.

How does a word get into the dictionary?

Merriam-Webster editors

1 6 0 4 1604 The first monolingual English dictionary, A Table Alphabeticall, is published by Robert Cawdrey. It contains about 3,000 words.

1 7 5 5 1755 British writer Samuel Johnson publishes A Dictionary of the English Language. Commissioned by a group of London booksellers, it contains about 43,000 entries.

tionary:

How many words are in the dictionary?

Yet, that fact has some footnotes. For example, the dictiop-o-s-t. They

“citations.” When there are may be added to the dictionary. cernible meaning. that have consistently failed to

1 7 8 3 1783 Noah Webster, an American writer who studied at Yale University and later co-founded Amherst College, publishes The American Spelling Book (1783), known as the Blue-Backed Speller.

1 8 0 6 1806 Webster produces his first dictionary, A Compendious Dictionary of the American Language.

1 8 2 8 1828 Webster publishes An American Dictionary of the English Language, which helps establish American English spellings and clear, concise definitions. The dictionary costs a hefty $20, more than $600 in today’s dollars.

1 8 3 1 1831 Brothers George and Charles Merriam found G. & C. Merriam Co., a printing shop and publishing company, in Springfield, Mass.

1 8 4 3 1843 Webster dies, and the Merriam brothers buy the rights to his dictionary. They publish versions with minor revisions in 1847 and, with new illustrations, in 1859. Thanks to the brothers’ business savvy, the cost of a dictionary drops to $6.

make the cut: Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, a nonsensical word made popular in the 1964 movie “Mary Poppins,” and antidisestablishmentarianism, a word more often cited as an example of a long word than used to carry meaning.

How long does it take for new words to make it into the dictionary?

“Every word has its own pace,” Sokolowski says. The quickest ever: Covid 19, a term that made it into the dictionary in 34 days after being coined by the World Health Organization.

“There was an urgent public need for this word,” he says. “People were looking it up in enormous numbers even before

How many new words are added each year?

Between 500 and 1,000 words are added to the Merriam-Webster dictionary every year.

While the online dictionary with its unlimited space is easy to update, new words are logged in a special section in the front

A word about Peter Sokolowski

J O B : JOB: Editor-at-large at Merriamand contributes blog posts, podcasts and videos for the online dictionary.

S I D E G I G S : SIDE GIGS: His writing has appeared in Slate, The New York Times and The Washington Post, and he frequently appears as a guest on TV and radio shows. He is also a freelance musician and a music host at New England Public Radio. He leads workshops on dictionaries and the English language for the U.S. State Department, and he recently helped develop the Egyptian National Spelling Bee and served as a pronouncer for the competition.

S P E L L I N G B E E S : SPELLING BEES: Although he doesn’t recall participating in spelling bees as a kid, he’s been involved with the Scripps

of the printed dictionary because it would be costly and impractical to reprint a whole new dictionary every year.

Some of the most recent additions: microgrid (“a local electrical grid”), MacGyver on hand”) and janky (“of very poor quality”).

Are words ever dropped out of the dictionary?

Words haven’t been dropped from the Unabridged dictionary since 1961, when editors of the Webster’s Third International Dictionary shocked word lovers by omitting proper nouns and some foreign, obsolete and archaic words.

What about terms like “LOL” or “BRB”?

“Informal language used to be underrepresented in the dictionary,” Sokolowski says. In the past, informal words and terms tended to be spoken, not written. Without written evidence of to justify including them in the dictionary.

Now, words are often coined in texts, emails or on social

National Spelling Bee as a professional for years. He gives a lecture for spellers and their parents (join him Tuesday of

Merriam-Webster booth and serves on the Bee’s Word Panel where he helps prepare succinct

FAVO R I T E WO R D : FAVORITE WORD: Sesquipedalian, which means “having many syllables” and

“characterized by the use of long words.” (“I love that word and the way you can break it down according to its etymology.”) And also crepuscule, which means twilight. (“It’s just a pretty word.”)

I S H E A G O O D S P E L L E R : IS HE GOOD SPELLER: “I’m not,” he says, adding that despite—or maybe because of—his extensive training in French, the similar cognate words give him the most trouble.

media. “Journalists will then start using these words in their articles,” Sokolowski says. “Suddenly, this word has jumped from your phone to a newspaper or magazine.”

Why are offensive words included in the dictionary?

The dictionary is a book of facts. Unfortunately, some facts ar-

the dictionary.

Dictionary makers must think of words as objects.

“It’s a more clinical way of looking at words,” Sokolowski says. “And through that, those words lose some of their power.”

Do fake words ever make it into the dictionary?

Despite urban myths, dictionary editors don’t purposely include made-up words in the dictionary to catch competitors who might be copying their work, Sokolowski said.

However, while building the dictionary is a very methodical and careful practice, mistakes have happened.

A famous example: Back in 1934, Webster’s New International Dictionary, Second Edition included the word Dord. This word was mistakenly added when a chemistry consultant submitted a written note indicating the letter D , either capitalized or lowercase, could be used as an abbreviation for density. But D or d Dord. The error was discovered in 1939, but Dord wasn’t removed from the dictionary until 1947.

What are the most commonly looked-up words?

The advent of the online dictionary has allowed dictionary editors to watch this fascinating phenomenon in real time and

gather some intriguing data.

For instance, in August 1997, when Princess Diana died after her car crashed while being chased by photographers, the word paparazzi became the most-searched word of the time.

“Every newsroom in the country was looking that up. We realized we can follow the news in real time by the words that people need.”

Such data helps Merriam-Webster unveil its “word of the year.” In 2020, the word of the year was pandemic . In 2021, it was vaccine . And in 2022, a year of political tumult, the word was gaslighting. During presidential campaigns, people often search

debate. In February, the word love trends. In December, yuletide typically tops the list.

These seem like very common words. Why are people looking them up?

“We’re good at reading data, not reading minds,” Sokolowski says.

1 8 6 4 1864

Merriam publishes the greatly expanded “unabridged” Webster’s dictionary with more than 180,000 entries, up-to-date etymologies, and illustrations.

1 8 9 0 1890

Webster’s International Dictionary debuts with a new name and expanded vocabulary; smaller, abridged Collegiate Dictionary versions follow.

1 9 3 4 1934

Webster’s Second New International Dictionary is published. With 600,000 entries, it is the largest single-volume dictionary in the English language.

1 9 4 7 1947

The first massmarket paperback dictionary is published by the Merriam company. It costs a mere 25 cents.

1 9 6 1 1961

Webster’s Third International Dictionary trims down definitions into single phrases and relies on printed evidence for every definition. Though controversial at the time, it becomes the basis for all future versions.

1 9 8 2 1982

The company is renamed MerriamWebster.

1 9 9 6 1996

MerriamWebster launches its first dictionary website. Access is free.

2 0 0 2 2002

MerriamWebster Unabridged launches online.

2 0 0 7 2007

MerriamWebster launches its dictionary app.

spelling bee

By Amelia Rice

Spelling Bee, Latin and Greek, Pronunciation please, Lights fill the stage, Kids of all age, Spelling, spelling, spelling, So many words, Is this a verb?

Definition please, Even if there’s a ding, Here’s the thing, Remember that you are a champion.

Spellers at the 2022 Scripps National Spelling Bee had the opportunity to participate in a Camp Bee writing workshop at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center. Those who did submitted entries for inclusion in the 2023 Bee Keeper magazine, and we selected this poem, written by Amelia Rice (speller 22 in 2022). Rice, now a 9th Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram in the 2022 Bee.

visit spellingbee.com to...

enroll your school in our program this fall

become a regional partner

buy bee swag in our online store

join the alumni group for spellers

The Power of

Connecti on Connection

When Tara and Tanvi Rakesh met a speller from India, they were inspired to create a nonprofit organization that helps other girls.

By Shannon Russell

The Scripps National Spelling Bee changed Tara Rakesh’s life in a way she never expected.

Tara was just 8 when her older sister, Tanvi, competed in the 2018 Bee. Tara and Tanvi met a girl named Priyanka, who’d traveled 8,500 miles to the national competition in National Harbor, Maryland, from Bangalore, India. Priyanka had won the Sahasra Deepika Outreach Program Spelling Bee two years prior. She was at Bee Week as a guest of former Scripps National Spelling Bee executive director Paige Kimble.

The more the sisters talked to Priyanka, the more they learned about life for underprivileged girls in Bangalore. Tara facing Priyanka and her peers.

a lot of kids to access and it’s actually a privilege for them,” Tara says. “That really struck something in me, that not all kids are able to have that.”

The chance meeting inspired Tara and

years, the girls from Florence, Kentucky—Tara, 13, and Tanvi, 16—have raised scholarship funds internationally for the Sahasra Deepika Foundation for Education and locally for the Brighton Center.

Tanvi twice competed in the Scripps National Spelling Bee, and Tara is competing in her third and final national competition this year. She’s ready to step on stage at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center for one last shot at Bee glory. But doing for others has become a passion she plans to carry throughout her life.

Council. When she’s not dedicated to schoolwork, she enjoys art, archery, baking, music and playing the piano.

Tara and Tanvi make them a priority. “We plan ahead so we’ll be able to at least get one fundraiser in each year,” Tara says. “But we aim for at least two.”

There’s always a philanthropic project in the works at the Rakesh home, where the girls live with their parents, Radha Rakesh and Rakesh Chitradurga.

Tara and Tanvi have funded scholarships for Sahasra Deepika Institute students in Bangalore and raised money for kids in the Brighton Center’s Homeward Bound Shelter in Northern Kentucky. Their donation to the Homeward Bound Shelter ful-

The sisters’ next goal is to host a girls’ conference in fall 2023, hopefully at one of their schools.

“I really enjoy helping people in my community and around the world,” says Tara, an eighth grader at Ballyshannon Middle School in Union, Kentucky. “And I just want to do my best to keep giving back.”

Making time to give time to give Time is a precious commodity for Tara, who has no shortage of interests, commitments and hobbies. She’s a member of her school’s Academic Team, a spelling bee champion, president of the National Junior Honor Society and treasurer of the Student

“We would like to do it sometime around the International Day of the Girl, which is in October,” Tara says. “We plan to have it focus on mental health, service and education, just to bring awareness to those topics to people in our community.”

Sarva Rajendra, president and executive director at Sahasra Deepika Foundation for Education, has never seen a duo quite like the Rakesh girls in terms of focus, dedication and follow-through. In fact, her family is the reason Tara and Tanvi donate to girls in Bangalore.

A dream realized A dream

Dr. T.V. Ramakrishna grew up poor in India and was raised by a widowed mother. He may have lived a life of poverty,

his education.

Ramakrishna eventually earned his doctorate at the University of Cincinnati. He moved the family to West Virginia, where his family, including daughter Rajendra, had “wonderful lives,” she says.

After he retired, Ramakrishna and his wife Vijaya dedicated themselves to giving girls in India educational opportunities. Rajendra says her father, 94, never forgot similar support he received. “It was the encouragement of a teacher that really made

PHOTOGRAPHS PROVIDED BY THE FAMILY OF TARA RAKESH

move forward and better his life,” Rajendra says. “He thought, ‘If somebody believing in me can do that for me and my family, why not do that for other children?’ ”

of land on the outskirts of Bangalore to the foundation they built: -

porting the education and residential care of underprivileged girls.

“Sahasra Deepika is a home and a learning environment for them so that they complete their education and improve their lives,” Rajendra says.

Rajendra’s father loved the Scripps National Spelling Bee and Program, reaching thousands of students in underserved schools in the Bangalore community. The Sahasra Deepika spelling bees were designed to help contestants improve their English language skills while rewarding the winner with scholarship money.

When Scripps’ Kimble traveled to India on business several

tunity. Kimble was invited to campus to meet their participants. “I think it really made an impression on (Kimble). It really resonated, how these students were able to come up in their standing because of the spelling bee, rising up out of poverty and into education and going beyond just learning how to spell. She was really touched by that and facilitated for our winner to be able to come to the Scripps National Spelling Bee,” Rajendra says.

That winner was Priyanka. (Rajendra says Priyanka is now thriving in college in India, where she’s “at the top of her class.”)

The interaction set the stage for a lasting partnership. Not only did the Rakesh sisters steer their international charity work toward Sahasra Deepika, but Rajendra says they inspired the foundation to help support the Brighton Center.

A bright future awaits A future awaits

When Lauren Copeland thinks about Tara and Tanvi Rakesh, she can’t help but smile. The Brighton Center’s Development

to help others through the lens of educational opportunities is admirable. “At such a young age, they’re asking questions about what they can do to help make their communities better. And

Keep on Giving (Clockwise from left) Tara and Tanvi make a donation to the Brighton Center’s Homeward Bound Shelter; Children at the Sahasra Deepika Foundation for Education; Tara and Tanvi with Priyanka Doddamani at the 2018 Scripps National Spelling Bee.

then they’re leveraging their own resources to be able to make a about the Brighton Center and its 48 programs by researching online and connecting to the center through a schoolmate’s par-

The girls are exploring fundraising opportunities for a new Brighton Center program called Opportunity House, which provides housing for 18- to 24-year-olds involved in post-secondary education or job training, pre-apprenticeship or apprenticeship programs. The Rakeshes are working with Rajendra and the Sahasra Deepika Foundation to set up a scholarship for the 2023–24 academic year.

For now, the Scripps National Spelling Bee takes center stageontory” in the WCPO 9 regional spelling bee. She’s excited to

“I love being at Bee Week. It’s a great experience,” Tara says. “As it’s my last year, it’s really nice to have the opportunity to go back and have another chance to do my best.”

The Giving Tree is another example of Tara at her best. Count Copeland among those who can’t wait to see what’s next

“I’m in awe every time I talk to them because I think that they’re our future,” Copeland says.

“With youths like Tara and Tanvi, our future is going to be very bright.”

To support The Giving Tree, visit www.thegivingtree.info. You can also follow the nonprofit on Facebook (facebook.com/thegivingtreenonprofit) and Instagram (instagram.com/thegivingtreenonprofit)

champions and their winning words

gladiolus

Frank Neuhauser

Louisville Courier-Journal

Louisville, Kentucky 1926

cerise

Pauline Bell

Louisville Courier-Journal

Louisville, Kentucky 1927

abrogate

Dean Lucas

Akron Beacon Journal

Akron, Ohio 1928

knack

Betty Robinson

South Bend

News-Times

South Bend, Indiana 1929

luxuriance

Virginia Hogan

The Omaha World-Herald

Omaha, Nebraska 1930

albumen

Helen Jensen

Des Moines

Register & Tribune

Des Moines, Iowa 1931

foulard

Ward Randall

White Hall RegisterRepublican

White Hall, Illinois 1932

Clara Mohler

Akron Beacon Journal

Frank Neuhauser was 11 when he won the first Bee. His prizes? A stack of gold coins worth $500 and a visit with President Calvin Coolidge.

invulnerable

Dorothy Greenwalk

Des Moines Register & Tribune

Des Moines, Iowa

1933 torsion

Alma Roach

Akron Beacon Journal

Akron, Ohio 1934 brethren

Sarah Wilson

Portland Evening Press

Akron, Ohio 1936 interning

Jean

Elizabeth Hess

Arizona Republic

first winner

Trowbridge

Des Moines Register & Tribune

Des Moines, Iowa 1937

promiscuous

Waneeta

Beckley

Louisville Courier-Journal

Louisville, Kentucky 1938

sanitarium

Marian Richardson

Portland, Maine 1935 intelligible

Louisville Times

Elizabeth Ann Rice

Worcester Telegram & Gazette

Worcester, Massachusetts

1940 therapy Laurel

Kuykendall

The Knoxville News Sentinel

Knoxville, Tennessee

1941 initials

Louis Edward

Sissman

Detroit News

Detroit, Michigan

1942

sacrilegious

Richard Earnhart

El Paso HeraldPost

El Paso, Texas 1946

semaphore

John McKinney

Des Moines

Register & Tribune

Louisville, Kentucky 1939 canonical

Des Moines, Iowa

1947 chlorophyll

Mattie Lou Pollard

Atlanta Journal

Georgia

Diana Reynard

Cleveland Press

Cleveland, Ohio 1951 insouciant

Irving Belz

Memphis Press

Scimitar

Memphis, Tennessee 1952

vignette

Doris Ann Hall

Winston-Salem Journal

Phoenix, Arizona 1954 transept William Cashore

Norristown Times Herald

Norristown, Pennsylvania 1955 crustaceology

Sandra Sloss

St. Louis GlobeDemocrat

St. Louis, Missouri 1956 condominium

Melody Sachko

The Pittsburgh Press

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 1957 schappe

Sandra Owen Canton Repository

Canton, Ohio

Dana Bennett

Rocky Mountain News

Denver, Colorado 1958

syllepsis Jolitta

Schlehuber

Topeka Daily Capital

Winston-Salem, North Carolina 1953 soubrette

Topeka, Kansas

historic

Jody-Anne Maxwell, from Jamaica, became the first Black winner of the Bee in 1998. Zaila Avant-garde became the first Black American winner in 2021. Maxwell is also the only winner from a country outside the United States.

Tim Kneale

Syracuse Herald

Journal-American

Syracuse, New York 1977 cambist

John Paola

The Pittsburgh Press

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

deification

Peg McCarthy

The Topeka Daily Capital

Topeka, Kansas 1979 maculature

Katie Kerwin

Rocky Mountain News

Denver, Colorado 1980

times 8

In 2019, eight co-winners were dubbed the “Octochamps” and hold the Guinness World Record for “Most winners of the Scripps National Spelling Bee (single competition).”

the trophy

The Scripps Cup, the Bee’s championship trophy, is designed by Rookwood Pottery in Cincinnati, Ohio.

executive directors

1925-1931

Dean George B. Wood, American University 1939

Douglas D. Cornette, The Courier-Journal (Louisville, KY)

1940-1948

Max B. Cook, Scripps-Howard Newspapers

1949-1957

Charles Schneider, Scripps-Howard Newspapers

1958-1959

Richard D. Peters, Scripps-Howard Newspapers 1960-1984

James H. Wagner, Scripps-Howard Newspapers

1985-1986

Mary L. Mangold 1985-1989

Mary CurtinBrooks 1987

2014

stichomythia

Sriram

Hathwar

Corning Rotary Club

Corning, New York

feuilleton

Ansun Sujoe

Texas Christian University

Fort Worth, Texas

2015

nunatak

Gokul

Venkatachalam

St. Louis PostDispatch

St. Louis, Missouri

scherenschnitte

Vanya

Shivashankar

The Olathe News

Olathe, Kansas

2016

Feldenkrais

Jairam

Hathwar

Corning Rotary Club

Corning, New York

gesellschaft

Nihar Janga

Houston Public Media

Houston, Texas

2017

marocain

Ananya Vinay

The Fresno Bee

Fresno, California

2018

koinonia

Karthik

Nemmani

Scoggins Middle School

McKinney, Texas

2019

erysipelas

Erin Howard

Adventure Travel

Birmingham, Alabama

auslaut

Rishik

Gandhasri

Bay Area Regional

Spelling Bee

San Francisco, California

bougainvillea

Saketh Sundar

Howard County Library

Columbia, Maryland

aiguillette

Shruthika

Padhy

Rosa

International Middle School

Cherry Hill, New Jersey

pendeloque

Sohum

Sukhatankar

Dallas Sports Commission

Dallas, Texas

palama

Abhijay Kodali

Dallas Sports Commission

Dallas, Texas

cernuous Christopher

Serrao

Discover Lehigh Valley

Allentown, Pennsylvania

odylic

Rohan Raja

Dallas Sports Commission

Dallas, Texas 2021

Murraya

Zaila

Avant-garde

New Orleans

Chapter of The Links

New Orleans, Louisiana 2022

moorhen

Harini Logan

Brauntex

Performing Arts Theatre Association

San Antonio, Texas

pronouncers

1925-1927

Dr. George S. Wills, Western Maryland College

1929-1936

Dr. Charles

E. Hill, George Washington University

1937-1940

Harold F. Harding, George Washington University

1938-1939

George F. Hussey, Jr., Special Contributing Editor to Webster’s New International Dictionary

1941-1942; 1946-1947

Dr. W. Hayes

Yeager, Professor of Public Speaking, George Washington University

1948-1960

Benson S. Alleman, Department of Communication, American University

1961-1980

Dr. Richard R. Baker, Professor of Philosophy, University of Dayton

1981-2002

Dr. Alex J

Cameron, Associate Professor of English, University of Dayton

2003-present

Dr. Jacques Bailly, Associate Professor of Classics, University of Vermont

2019-present

Dr. Brian

Sietsema, Clergyman, Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America

champions by state

Texas ( 16 ) Richard Earnhart, El Paso, 1942; Nettie Crawford, El Paso, 1962; Robert A. Wake, Houston, 1966; Susan Yoachum, Dallas, 1969; Robin Kral, Lubbock, 1972; Barrie Trinkle, Fort Worth, 1973; Paige Pipkin, El Paso, 1981; Blake Giddens, El Paso, 1983; Sai R. Gunturi, Dallas, 2003; Ansun Sujoe, Fort Worth, 2014; Nihar Janga, Houston, 2016; Karthik Nemmani, McKinney, 2018; Abhijay Kodali, Dallas, 2019; Sohum Sukhatankar, Dallas, 2019; Rohan Raja, Dallas, 2019; Harini Logan, San Antonio, 2022.

Ohio ( 9 ) Dean Lucas, Akron, 1927; Alma Roach, Akron, 1933; Clara Mohler, Akron, 1935; Jean Chappelear, Akron, 1948; Kim Calvin, Canton, 1949; Diana Reynard, Cleveland, 1950; Sandra Owen, Canton, 1957; William Kerek, Akron, 1964; Anamika Veeramani, Cleveland, 2010.

Pennsylvania ( 8 ) William Cashore, Norristown, 1954; Melody Sachko, Pittsburgh, 1956; Jonathan Knisely, Philadelphia, 1971; John Paola, Pittsburgh, 1977; Jon Pennington, Harrisburg, 1986; Stephanie Petit, Pittsburgh, 1987; Sukanya Roy, Wilkes-Barre, 2011; Christopher Serrao, Allentown, 2019.

Colorado ( 7 ) Dana Bennett, Denver, 1957; Joel Montgomery, Denver, 1959; Katie Kerwin, Denver, 1979; Jacques Bailly, Denver, 1980; Molly Dieveney, Denver, 1982; Scott Isaacs, Denver, 1989; Pratyush Buddiga, Denver, 2002.

Tennessee ( 7 ) Laura Kuykendall, Knoxville, 1940; Irving Belz, Memphis, 1951; Henry Feldman, Knoxville, 1960;

1993; Ned G. Andrews, Knoxville, 1994; Justin Tyler Carroll, Memphis, 1995.

California (6 ) Rageshree Ramachandran, Sacramento, 1988; Anurag Kashyap, San Diego, 2005; Evan M. O’Dorney, Walnut Creek, 2007; Snigdha Nandipati, San Diego, 2012; Ananya Vinay, Fresno, 2017; Rishik Gandhasri, San Francisco, 2019.

Kansas ( 5 ) Jolitta Schlehuber, Topeka, 1958; Robert L. Walters, Topeka, 1968; Peg McCarthy, Topeka, 1978; Kavya Shivashankar, Olathe, 2009; Vanya Shivashankar, Olathe, 2015.

New York ( 5 ) Tim Kneale, Syracuse, 1976; Rebecca Sealfon, New York City, 1997; Arvind Mahankali, New York City, 2013; Sriram Hathwar, Corning, 2014; Jairam Hathwar, Corning, 2016.

Iowa ( 4 ) Helen Jensen, Des Moines, 1930; Dorothy Greenwalk, Des Moines, 1932; Jean Trowbridge, Des Moines, 1936; John McKinney, Des Moines, 1946.

Kentucky ( 4 ) Frank Neuhauser, Louisville, 1925; Pauline Bell, Louisville, 1926; Waneeta Beckley, Louisville, 1937; Marian Richardson, Louisville, 1938.

Missouri ( 4 ) Sandra Sloss, St. Louis, 1955; Michael Day, St. Louis, 1962; George Abraham Thampy, St. Louis, 2000; Gokul Venkatachalam, St. Louis, 2015.

Indiana ( 3 ) Betty Robinson, South Bend, 1928; David Tidmarsh, South Bend, 2004; Sameer Mishra, Lafayette, 2008.

states with 2 champions

Alabama Julie Anne Junkin, Birmingham, 1974; Erin Howard, Birmingham, 2019. Florida Wendy Guey, West Palm Beach, 1996; Nupur Lala, Tampa, 1999. Georgia Mattie Lou Pollard, Atlanta, 1947; Colquitt Dean, Atlanta, 1950. Illinois Ward

Randall, White Hall, 1931; Balu Natarajan, Chicago, 1985. Nebraska Virginia Hogan, Omaha, 1929; Jennifer Reinke, Omaha, 1967. New Jersey Katharine Close, Asbury Park, 2006; Shruthika Padhy, Cherry Hill, 2019. North Carolina

Doris Ann Hall, Winston-Salem, 1952; Libby Childress, Winston-Salem, 1970. Oklahoma John Capeheart, Tulsa, 1961; Michael Kerpan, Jr., Tulsa. Virginia Daniel Greenblatt, Leesburg, 1984; Amanda Goad; Richmond, 1992.

states/others with 1 champion

Arizona Elizabeth Hess, Phoenix, 1953. Louisiana Zaila Avant-garde, New Orleans, 2021. Maine Sarah Wilson, Portland, 1934. Maryland Saketh Sundar, Columbia, 2019. Massachusetts Elizabeth Ann Rice, Worcester, 1939. Michigan Louis Edward Sissman, Detroit, 1941. Minnesota Sean Conley, Aitkin, 2001. Washington Amy Marie Dimak, Seattle, 1990. Wisconsin Joanna Lagatta, Madison, 1991. Jamaica Jody-Anne Maxwell, 1998. Puerto Rico Hugh Tosteson García, 1975.

states waiting for their first champion

Alaska, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Idaho, Mississippi, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, West Virginia, Wyoming

top sponsor cities of champions

Denver, Colorado 7

Akron, Ohio 5

Dallas, Texas 5

Des Moines, Iowa 4

El Paso, Texas 4

Knoxville, Tennessee 4

Louisville, Kentucky 4

spelling bees in film, theater, books

“Spelling the Dream” ( 2020 ) : -

“Bad Words” (2013 ):

“Akeelah and the Bee” ( 2006 ) :

“American Bee: The National Spelling Bee and the Culture of Word Nerds” ( 2006 ):

The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee ( 2005 ) :

“Bee Season” ( 2005 ):

“Spellbound” (2002 ): -

“The Girl Who Spelled Freedom” ( 1986 ) :

PHOTOGRAPH (TOP)

BY JOAN MARCUS

2006 winner Katharine “Kerry ” Close is profiled in the book!

a champion year

Harini Logan, the 2022 Scripps National Spelling Bee champion, traveled around the world celebrating her historic win.

OUT IN NEW YORK CITY AND ABOUT (Above

Logan’s post-Bee media tour took her to “Live with Kelly and Ryan” in New York City and “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” in Los Angeles. (Below) Harini was on a panel at South by Southwest: Education (SXSW EDU) in Austin, Texas, to talk about her Bee journey and what it had taught her. (Far left) Harini and her family were joined by leaders from The E.W. Scripps Company for the Nasdaq closing bell ceremony in New York City.

and left) Harini

BY NASDAQ, INC., SCRIPPS NATIONAL SPELLING BEE, ERIN SCOTT/WHITE HOUSE AND HARINI LOGAN'S FAMILY

BEE QUEENS Harini joined 2021 champion Zaila Avant-garde on the White House lawn for a special meeting with Dr. Jill Biden, the First Lady. Later that evening, the two served as judges for the prestigious Press vs. Politicians spelling bee at the National Press Club.

HONORED GUEST Harini traveled to the South Indian State of Tamil Nadu (left), where she was honored by the governor and madam governor. San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg (below) greeted Harini at the airport in San Antonio when she returned home after winning.

Harini reunited with 2016 co-champion Nihar Janga at SXSW EDU, recreating a photo of the two at a spelling bee in Florida following Nihar’s 2016 win.

your beeswax

Where Are They Now?

1975 national competitor

Long-time business writer felt like a V.I.P. at the national spelling bee.

—AMY BLAKELY

Leslie Norton is the editorial director of sustainability for Morningstar, an Americancate proudly displayed in her home indicates, her early: The framed page recognizes her “outstanding ability in spelling” as a contestant in the 48th

As an eighth grader at Park Forest Junior High School in State College, -

opened her eyes to a larg-

realized you could makeside your sphere,” she friendships lay ahead, and Norton earned her-

in 2021, Norton spent more than 25 and helped launch the London buYork City, has a son adopted from

ALL SMILES Today, Leslie Norton (top) works for American financial services firm Morningstar. She lives in New York City.

Leslie Norton kept a clipping from the Pennsylvania Mirror in her scrapbook.

1985 national competitor

Newspaper editor Kelly Lecker says Bee fueled her love of reading and writing.

—AMY BLAKELY

n March 2022, roughly 37 years after representing the Wisconsin State Journal in the 1985 Scripps National Spelling Bee, Kelly Lecker returned to the newspaper as its executive editor.

It’s appropriate, Lecker said, since participating in the Bee fueled her love of reading and writing and pointed her toward a career in journalism. “It made me more interested in words in general, their origins and meanings,” she said.

Lecker was raised on a dairy farm in the tiny village of Cecil, Wisconsin, and attended school in nearby Bonduel. Other than day trips, her family didn’t travel much.

“You have to milk cows

twice a day,” she explained. “So going to the national spelling

Lecker was a 12-year-old seventh grader at Bonduel Middle School when she won the state bee and earned a seat in the national competition. Her small school gained statewide fame for producing four state spelling bee champs in six years.

“I think it’s because we had a teacher who really loved the spelling bee,” Lecker said. “Once you won the school bee, he would work with you and make it fun.”

Lecker has many fond memories of the national spelling bee, which was held that year at the Capitol Hilton in Washington, D.C.

“It was such an impressive feeling to be on stage, in front of a crowd, with everyone celebrating academics,” she said.

FURRY FRIEND (From top) Kelly Lecker with her pandemic pup Fezzik; Lecker (front) at her state bee in Wisconsin.

In the fifth round, Lecker tripped on the word “knout.” She placed 38th of 168 spellers.

“Those one-syllable words can really trip you up,” she said.

Afterward, to cheer her up, her parents suggested they walk to a nearby restaurant for lunch.

head pooped on Lecker’s head. The whole family doubled over laughing. What could have been a sad memory turned into a funny moment that still makes her giggle.

Lecker, who graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, previously worked as a reporter at The Blade in Toledo, Ohio, and at the Journal Gazette in Fort Wayne, Ind. She also worked as a reporter, digital news editor and managing editor at The Columbus Dispatch in Ohio. In Columbus, Lecker led the investigation into the high equipment. The stories brought about potentially life-saving changes.

In Toledo, she wrote about some adults whose fathers had died in Vietnam. One of the women mentioned that she’d always wanted to visit the Vietnam Memorial in Washington, D.C. After the story ran, someone paid for her to go.

Both stories, Lecker said, “underscore the impact journalists can make in this world.”

The Wisconsin State Journal has been a regional partner of the Bee since 1949. That is another way this journalism institution impacts the world.

LECKER

your beeswax

Where Are They Now?

2004 national competitor

Akshay Buddiga’s fainting episode was viral spelling bee moment —AMY BLAKELY

Akshay Buddiga is a successful entrepreneur with degrees from Duke and Stanford universities.

He and his brother, Pratyush, began preparing for the Scripps National Spelling Bee as youngsters. Pratyush won in 2002; Akshay placed second in 2004.

Despite these accomplishments, Akshay is best known for one of the most viral moments in Scripps National Spelling Bee history: He fainted while at the microphone, clambered back up, spelled his word correctly, and then continued in the competition until he missed “schwarmerei.”

He’s recounted the story dozens of times.

After seeing his brother win, Buddiga desperately wanted to be a national champion, too. He didn’t make it to the national stage in 2003 but earned a seat in 2004.

The competition was nerve-wracking, especially when he got the word “alopecoid.”

“I was going back and forth between two potential spellings,” he says.

For nearly 2½ minutes, Buddiga asked for informapeat. The clock was ticking down. The TV lights were glaring and hot.

lightheaded. He opened his eyes wide, teetered to the side, and fell.

The crowd gasped. Judges paused the timer.

But in seconds, Buddiga was back on his feet.

“I thought, ‘I’m a little shaky, but I’ll just go up there and pick one of the two spellings.’ ”

He guessed correctly.

During a break, Buddiga was checked out by a doctor. He ate he wanted to continue, he said, “Yeah, of course.”

Tidmarsh on the media tour. Everyone wanted to talk to the amazing boy who fainted.

In the years since the Bee, Buddiga earned his bachelor’s degree in biomedical engineering at Duke and his master’s degree in management science and engineering at Stanford. In 2021, after several years in the corporate world, he joined the On Deck Founder Fellowship program for entrepreneurs.

Akshay Buddiga traveled to Portugal earlier this year, where he proposed to fiancee Indira Pal.

There, he met his business partner, and they outlined plans for their company, Traba. They launched in Miami in August 2021. To date, they’ve raised $23.6 million to fund operations.

a mobile app to schedule work and monitor earnings; company partners use a web app to manage their worker pool, review timesheets and pay invoices.tionwide and then globally. have served him well.

“If you work really hard you can achieve almost anything,” he says.

PHOTOGRAPH PROVIDED BY AKSHAY BUDDIGA

your beeswax

Where Are They Now?

2017-2018 national competitor

Adom Appiah has started a nonprofit and published three advice books for youth.

—AMY BLAKELY

Two-time Scripps National Spelling Bee competitor Adom Appiah, now a freshman and Robertson Scholar at Duke University, has already published community. trophy, his experiences in the national Bee fueled his desire

In 2016, as part of a seventh-grade school project at Spartanburg (South Carolina) Day School, Appiah created a celebrity basketball game, Ball4Good. The event drew 800 spectators and raised money for the local Boys and Girls Club. With a grant from the Spartanburg County Foundation, Appiah transformed Ball4Good into a nonprofit that has drawn the support of Zion Williamson of theson and former Michigan State University basketball player Anthony Ianni.

and whose mother, Marjorie, is an author and management consultant—describes himself as “radically ambitious and tremendously busy, in a positive way.”

Adom Appiah is now a freshman at Duke. Here he cheers on the men's basketball team.

In high school, he was involved with athletics, band, student government and volunteer work. A stellar student his entiretary school.

Bee, Appiah made it through the preliminary oral rounds of the 2017 Scripps National Spelling Bee but was eliminated by his written test score.

That year, drawing on his experiences with Ball4Good and chronicling what it felt like to push himself beyond his comfort into the end result.

Appiah returned to the Scripps National Spelling Bee in 2018 via the RSVBee program, which for several years provided an alternative route for students to make it to the national stage.

In his second national appearance, Appiah was eliminated in second book, “Bouncing Back from Failure: By a Kid for Kids.”

LIKE ROYALTY Adom

Appiah (left) with tennis legend Billie Jean King when he received the 2021 Billie Jean King Youth Leadership ESPN Sports Humanitarian Award.

the World: Young but geared toward a younger audience. Appiah received the 2021 Billie Jeantarian Award; the 2021 Scholarship for accomplished, community-minded high school senior student-athletes; the 2020 William R. Simms At Duke, Appiah is majoring in sociology and innovation and entreprehis own business.

“Academically, college has been manageable,” he said. “The difficulty is time management.”

blanks word ladder

Making only words found in Merriam-Webster Unabridged, changing one letter at a time, and keeping the position of the other letters constant, can you travel up (or down) the ladder from WORD to STAR? There are many different routes. What is the shortest one

Answers on page 57.

bee

You have arrived in National Harbor! Right about now, you might be overwhelmed with possibilities. Should you _________ (1) in the Gaylord pool? Or visit the famous _________ (2), which was recently featured in a scene from _________ (3)? Or should you just spend time _________ (4) in your hotel room?

A good plan, as always, is essential. Here is our advice for making sure your time here is totally _________ (5).

First, take advantage of Washington, D.C. Go see the Lincoln Memorial, where _________ (6) gave the famous “ _________ ” (7) speech. Visit a museum or stop by the _________ (8) House, where you just might see the President and First Lady talking to _________ (9) on the lawn.

Next, meet your fellow spellers. You are some of the _________ (10) kids in the world. When else will you have this opportunity? Sign each other’s _________ (11), share funny stories and spend time _________ (12) together. You might even meet someone else who is interested in _________ (13).

Finally, do whatever you need to do to relax, whether that is listening to _________ (14) on repeat, eating _________ (15) plates of _________ (16) or wearing your lucky _________ (17). You should feel pride and _________ (18) about what you have accomplished, so _________ (19) onto that stage like you are already a champion, because you are!

______________

verb (1 )

______________

famous place (2 )

______________

name of movie (3 )

______________

verb ending in -ing (4 )

______________

adjective (5 )

______________

full name (6 )

______________

memorable phrase (7 )

______________ color (8 )

______________

famous person (9 )

______________

adjective ending in -est (e.g. “funniest”) (10 )

______________

plural noun (11 )

______________

verb ending in -ing (12 )

______________

hobby / interest (13 )

______________

name of song (14 )

______________

number (15 )

______________

food (16 )

______________

noun (17 )

______________

emotion (18 )

______________

verb (19 )

hive mind

– AKSHAY AHUJA

Answers on page 57.

the dream job

Corrie Loeffler stepped into the role of executive director of the Scripps National Spelling Bee in January 2023. In many ways she’s been preparing for this role her whole life.

– REBECCA McCARTER

Teacher. Doctor. Actor. Musician. All common kid responses to the question, “What is your dream job?”

And while it’s possible that you might see the occasional “professional athlete” or even the extra-specific “exotic animal veterinarian” written in crayon and tacked to the refrigerator, odds are you’d be hard-pressed to see “director of the Scripps National Spelling Bee.”

Unless, of course, you were reading

The Scripps National Spelling Bee’s executive director said Bee Week to watch her brother, Paul, compete.

“I immediately felt that it was a magical place,” she said. “I knew I had to make it back to compete on my own, not just because I thought spelling was fun, but because Bee Week was the best thing I could imagine.”

nia, she spelled out her dream to one day help shape the same in a school scrapbook and got to work.

She went on to qualify three times for the national compe-

“I loved the way the Bee opened up the world to me,” she said. “Through the practice of studying and discovery of new interests, through the world of words and the impact they can have and through my connection to so many new pen pals.”

a way to help other kids experience the Bee. She volunteered with her regional program throughout high school, and later worked on the Bee’s College Crew. And when the opportunity came to move to Cincinnati—headquarters for the Bee and its longtime steward, The E.W. Scripps Company—to work for the Bee full-time, she knew she had to say yes.

as a key member of the Bee’s editorial and program teams, helping to shape the Bee experience, including the development

"My job is to make sure as many kids as possible can use this program as a springboard to dream bigger for themselves."

of all educational and contest materials, the production and broadcast of the national competition and many of the activities that have become synonymous with Bee Week.

ments in its recent history, including designing a hybrid virback safely during the pandemic. She also supported the Bee really does—“gives kids the words they need to shine their light on the world.”

As for what’s next for the Bee under Corrie’s leadership, that school scrapbook still serves as her North Star.

“It all comes down to the same thing I wanted as a kid,” she said. “I want as many kids as possible to have access to the Bee experience, whether it’s in their second-grade classroom or on the national stage. Bee Week was a turning point in imagining what I could dream for myself and my life. My job is to make sure as many kids as possible can use this program as a springboard to dream bigger for themselves.”

BY MARK BOWEN

you might not know all this about Scripps

Welcome to Bee Week, a special time of the year that I know we all look forward to. We hear over and over how transformative this experience is, and we are thrilled to provide this opportunity for so many spellers and parents. Presenting the Scripps Cup to the new champion is one of the highlights of the year for me.

I thought it would be fun to share some interesting facts about our company—the steward of the Scripps National Spelling Bee for more than 80 years.

1. The National Spelling Bee started in 1925,

2. Today, we are a Fortune 1000 media enterprise and one of the largest television broadcasting companies in the country. We own television stations from coast to coast and national news and entertainment networks.

3. Scripps (and the Bee) are headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio.ican Ball Park, where the Cincinnati Reds play, and Northern Kentucky, which is just across the Ohio

the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center.

4. Our company motto is “Give light and the people will find their own way” and has been in company committed to journalistic principles of giving factual information and letting viewers and readers

5. An important part of our organization is the Scripps Howard Fund. We believe in giving back to the communities we serve. We support journalism education through a variety of programs, primarily at the college level. We also support childhood literacy. One of our most popular philanthropic programs provided to younger students all over the country. In addition, our TV stations raise money for causes in their communities, includ-

I hope that was helpful. Just so you know, we’re already you all for being a part of this special program. If you

Adam Symson President and CEO

The E.W. Scripps Company

The woman responsible for building and developing central Pennsylvania’s spelling bee program over the past 26 years has been selected as the 2023 Scripps National Spelling Bee Regional Partner of the Year.

Ruth Keim received the recognition because of the way she uses her voice and actions as an advocate for students and an

“Ruth’s partnership with the Scripps National Spelling Bee has been invaluable. Because of her dedication, the central Pennsylvania bee now includes 11 counties and supports 75 schools,” says Tammy Riddle, director of sales and marketing for the Scripps National Spelling Bee.

Pennsylvania bee with a regional newspaper. For 13 years, she built relationships with school administrators, coordinators, teachers and districts—growing the program year after year as her own affinity for the Bee grew. In 2010, when the newspaper made the decision to no longer remain a regional partner, Keim was able to secure a partnership with WITF Public Media. As the local public television and radio station, this partnership allowed WITF to host and broadcast the regional competition.

"To say Ruth is passionate about the spelling bee program is an understatement."

dons bee jewelry, bee clothing and even bee slippers.”

Each year, Keim accompanies the regional champion to the national competition, helping the spellers and family navigate Bee Week. She has many memories but says her favorite part is getting to know the families and making friendships that last a lifetime. She says all the spellers she’s worked with through the years have one thing in common.

“It’s having the courage to step out and do something that they really want to do,” Keim says. “[The Bee] allows them to express themselves better by having this experience with Scripps.”

After 26 years, Keim will step down as regional bee coordinator following the 2023 national competition, but she’s not hanging up her Bee wings just yet. She’s excited for the opportunity to stay with WITF part-time, assisting with bee operations and continuing to help the beehive thrive.

Keim worked closely with WITF to transform it from an oral format to a televised program—similar to the national competition. She wanted to help the spellers feel comfortable with the lights and production aspect of it. Now in her 26th year, Keim is helping to evolve the regional compecompetition available on digital platforms.

Keim’s coworkers say her passion for the Bee is unmatched.

“To say Ruth is passionate about the spelling bee program is an understatement,” says Jennifer Balda, WITF’s education project coordinator. “She exudes ‘bee enthusiasm’ all year round—her work cubicle is decorated with everything bee, she

PROVIDED BY RUTH KEIM

Ruth Keim shares her passion. – MOLLY MIOSSI

QUEEN BEE Ruth Keim’s cubicle is filled with bees; wearing her bee slippers for a bee event.

SUPERSTAR

Gina Calhoun ‘makes an impact’ on students’ lives. – MOLLY MIOSSI

The 2023 Scripps National Spelling Bee Educator of the Year embodies what it means to Bee a Champion.

Gina Calhoun, an eighth-grade teacher at Ashe County Middle School in Warrensville, North Carolina, took on the role of spelling bee coordinator at the school eight years ago. Calhoun has helped transform the program, giving spellers the opportunity to shine outside of the classroom.

Ashe County Middle School is in rural northwest North Carolina, with more than 65% of students on free and reduced lunch.

time they’re able to leave the area where they’ve grown up and attend the regional competition in Charlotte, sponsored by the Carolina Panthers.

“Opportunities are limited for a lot of our students,” Calhoun says. “It’s nice when we can do something for our students where they can hone a skill that they have and really shine demonstrating that skill.”

Calhoun’s teaching goes beyond the classroom, not only helping students improve their spelling, but also teaching them

“Thanks to Ms. Calhoun’s passion, students from all walks of

their social skills—she’s leading them on a path to success and showing them how to celebrate along the way.”

In addition to her work as school spelling bee coordinator, Calhoun is also one of the Bee’s biggest cheerleaders. When a speller makes it to the regional competition, she gets t-shirts printed and takes the student and their family out to dinner. Calhoun also ensures the spellers are featured on the school’s social media feeds and website.

“Ms. Calhoun celebrates our students like they are president of our nation, which really makes an impact on their lives,” says Susan Mochen, principal of Ashe County Middle School.

While she’s worked with hundreds of students through the years, there’s one message she has for everyone she’s teaching and coaching.

“I remind them of what they’ve already accomplished,” Calhoun says, “and I want them to be proud of that.”

SugarBee Apple is sponsoring the Educator of the Year award. “SugarBee Apple growers proudly support the Bee’s educators and their devotion to inspiring every child to discover their potential to innovate and create something magical,” says Julie DeJarnatt, director of brand strategy at Chelan Fresh and representative for SugarBee Apple.

North Carolina eighth-grade teacher Gina Calhoun says, “Opportunities are limited for a lot of our students.”

an inspiring voice

Jason Reynolds is a highly acclaimed and often-honored author and poet, but one of his favorite roles is motivating young adults to read, write and use language to express themselves. He will be on the main stage speaking to all spellers on Wednesday of Bee Week (7:30 p.m.).

What first got you interested in language?

Rap music. As a kid at 8, 9, 10 years old, hearing that music was magical. It was infectious to me.

Can you name an artist who inspired you?

What word has special power for you?

A word or term that I love is one we use in publishing for editing: “stet,” which is Latin and means “let it stand.” I love it for lots of reasons. One, because I think it’s what you write when you’re telling your editor that you’re not going to change something. And I typically use it as part of my life. I like who I’ve written

You said you have 25 or 26 tattoos. Do you have a favorite?

My legs are tattooed with a huge word “Saturday.” When I was a kid, my best friend and I would always say that one day we’re going to live our lives like every day is Saturday. And when that happened, we both went and got those tattoos.

What’s your best advice for spellers?

My best advice would be that misspelling a word does not mean that you are a misspelled person. We mis spell things sometimes. And that oftentimes, it’s in our mistakes that newness is born. I know that spelling something right or doing something right

feat. But when it doesn’t work out that way, there’s something else that can be discovered as well. For kids, it’s important to remember that.

Do you have a favorite Marvel character?

I mean, I’m kind of obligated to say Miles Morales. Wolverine when I was a child; Miles Morales now.

Is there a special cause you care about?

Literacy. Anything that has to do with civil and equal rights for all people, especially people of color and anyone from the LGBTQIA+ community. And anything that has to do with elders, because I’m a mama’s boy and she is an elder.

How do you find the right words?

I love a thesaurus. I’m also a huge etymological dictionary guy. I love the etymology of words. Sometimes I just look through to see if something shakes loose. I like anything that’s obscure.

What advice would you give someone on telling their own story?

Tell it however you want to tell it. There’s a tattoo on my hand, the number 26. That number represents the letters of the English alphabet. The arrangement and sequencing of just those 26 letters is enough to build an entire world, let alone tell your story. If you understand those letters, then you get to basically sit in the front row at the building blocks of the world. So, when it comes to telling your story, all it really has to do with is the understanding of those 26 letters.

PHOTOGRAPH BY JAMES J. REDDINGTON

SPELLERS, ALWAYS REMEMBER: your

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? Your playing small does not serve the world.”

—From “Akeelah and the Bee,” adapted from author Marianne Williamson in her book “A Return To Love: Refl ections on the Principles of A Course in Miracles”

hive mind bee blanks

thank you to our regional partners!

These regional partners organize spelling bees across the country and sponsor regional champions who advance to the national competition.

platinum partners

Arizona Educational Foundation

Georgia Association of Educators

Miami Herald

2 News Oklahoma

A.C.E.S.

Akron Beacon Journal

Alabama Kiwanis Foundation

Anchorage Daily News

Anne Arundel County Public Schools

Ball State University

- WIPB-TV

Bergen County Division of Cultural & Historic Affairs

Big Brothers and Big Sisters

Boise State University

Boone-Winnebago

Regional Office of Education

Boston Centers for Youth & Families

Boulder Valley School District

Cape Breton University

Carroll/JoDaviess/ Stephenson Regional Office of Education

Central Rappahannock

Regional Library

Charles County Public Schools

Charleston Gazette-Mail

Chester County Intermediate Unit

Chicago Public Schools

Collier County Public Schools

Columbia Missourian

ComEd and Tyndale

House Publishers

Corning Rotary Club

Cumberland County Schools

DeKalb Regional Office of Education 16

Delaware County

Intermediate Unit

Diamond City Sports

Discover Kalamazoo

Duke University Office of Durham and Community Affairs

Ector County Independent School District

Education Credit Union

Educational Service Center of Lorain County Electric Cooperatives of Arkansas

Envision Credit Union

EPISD Education Foundation

ESC of Northeast Ohio

ESC of the Western Reserve

Eureka Enrichment & Learning Center, Inc.

European PTA

Fairbanks North Star Borough School District

Fairfax County Council

PTA

Frederick County Public Libraries

Grundy/Kendall County Regional Office of Education

Harnett County Schools

Hawaii State Spelling Bee

Howard County Library

Hudson County Office of Cultural and Heritage Affairs

Idaho Character Foundation

Imperial County Office of Education

Indiana University

InsideNoVa/Prince William

IU School of Education at IUPUI

Johnston County Public Schools

Kane County Regional Office of Education

Sweet Success ATX

regional partners

Kankakee Valley REMC

Kansas Press Association

Kent Intermediate School District

KERO Channel 23

Kiwanis Club of Abilene

Kiwanis Club of Lafayette

KRIS Communications

Lafayette Adult Resource Academy

Lake County Regional Office of Education

Lakes Country Service Cooperative

Laredo Morning Times

Lee County Spelling Bee

Lewiston Tribune

Loudoun County Public Schools

Louisiana State University

Shreveport

Ludington Daily News

Macomb Intermediate School District

Macon-Piatt Regional Office of Education

Maryland Sports

McHenry County Regional Office of Education

Mid-Continent Public Library

Midland Reporter-Telegram

Montana Television Network

Monterey County Office of Education

Mosaic Life Care Foundation

Navajo Times Publishing Company

ND Association of County Superintendents

New Hampshire Union Leader

New Orleans Chapter of The Links

Noah Webster House & West Hartford Historical Society

Oakland Schools

Education Foundation

Ohio University College of Business

Oklahoma City Thunder

Olathe Public Schools

Omaha Sports Commission

Orange-Ulster BOCES

Orlando City SC

Pamplin Media Group

Pee Dee Education Center

Pennsylvania State Education Association and Council for the Advancement of Public Schools

Pepper Construction and Wight & Company

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Portland Press Herald/

Maine Sunday Telegram

Press Communications

Ramar Communications

Rapoport Holdings, LLC

Raymore-Peculiar

School District

Regional Office of Education #47

Richmond Times-Dispatch

Rio Grande Valley AIM

Media Texas

Riverside County Office of Education

Rockingham District

Ruritans

Rotary Club of Guam

SagamoreHill Broadcasting LLC

SAGE Publishing

Saint Louis University

Salem News, East

Liverpool Review and The Morning Journal

San Angelo Association of REALTORS

Seaford District Library, Inc.

Sidelines and Stages

Somerset County Library System

Sourcewell

South Central Service

Cooperative

Southeast Education Service Center

Southeast Service Cooperative Success Beyond the Classroom

Sussex County Public Libraries

Sweetwater County BOCES

Texas Christian University

The Albuquerque Journal

The Blade

The Brauntex Performing Arts Theatre Association

The City Journals

The Clarksburg Exponent-Telegram

The County Press

The Daily Item

The Daily Progress and News Virginian

The Daily Star

The Denver Post

The Dispatch Argus

The Herald Palladium

The Herald-Star

The Lima News

The Marietta Times

The Martha’s Vineyard Times

The Meakem Group

The Ministry of Education

The News & Advance

The Office of the Fresno County Superintendent of Schools

The Orange County Register

The Post and Courier

The Post-Standard

The Repository

The Republican Herald

The Roanoke Times

The San Diego Union-Tribune

The Times Leader

The Valley Breeze

The Virgin Islands Daily News

Three Rivers College

Town Hall Seattle

Traverse City Record-Eagle University Laboratory School

University of Maryland

Eastern Shore

University of Memphis

University of South Dakota

USC Upstate

Victoria Advocate

Visalia Times-Delta/ Tulare Advance-Register

VTDigger

Watertown Daily Times

Wayne-Finger Lakes BOCES

WFMJ Television, Inc.

WHRO Public Media

Will County Regional Office of Education

Wisconsin State Journal

WITF: Public Media for Central Pennsylvania

WJXT

WXYZ Channel 7