Mornings with Kristen Herrmann

Weekdays 6:00am - 9:00am

The 2023 Scripps National Spelling Bee kicked off last night in Maryland with 231 spellers competing this year from all 50 states and a number of other countries too.

Valentines Day. That’s what got me out in my 6th grade spelling bee. I forgot the apostrophe in Valentine’s Day. I contest that word choice to this day. (First, it’s two words. Second, punctuation???) Anyway, the win went to Nathan Fegley. I was runner up. Still bitter. I’m not a bad speller though, but nowhere near the Scripps competitors.

I love this competition. This year marks the 95th Annual Scripps National Spelling Bee. The competitors are always really young too, and super impressive. Anywhere from 9 to 14 years old, with a massive amount of knowledge of words and definitions and origins and spellings. There are a number of competitors from our area too, representing Delaware, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Here’s who to look for.

Delaware:

#29

Declan Durand, 11 years old, 5th grade

Georgetown, Delaware

#30

Zion Miller, 14 years old, 8th grade

Seaford, Delaware

Pennsylvania:

#169

Christian Miller, 14 years old, 8th grade

Downingtown, Pennsylvania

#170

Kenzo Veron, 14 years old, 8th grade

Harrisburg, Pennsylvania

#171

Priana Khant, 14 years old, 8th grade

Montgomeryville, Pennsylvania

#172

Pranav Anandh, 14 years old, 8th grade

Morton, Pennsylvania

#173

Arielle Dahan, 11 years old, 5th grade

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

#174

Sandhana Rajesh, 12 years old, 6th grade

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

#175

Jack Jiang, 13 years old, 8th grade

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

#176

Isaac Geremew, 11 years old, 5th grade

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

#177

Raana Parchuri, 13 years old, 7th grade

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

#178

Tyler Kulikosky, 14 years old, 8th grade

Pottsville, Pennsylvania

#179 Aaditya Aiyer, 13 years old, 7th grade

Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania

New Jersey:

#123

Atharv Narvekar, 14 years old, 8th grade

Bridgewater, New Jersey

#124

Lucas Ke, 14 years old, 8th grade

Hackensack, New Jersey

#125

Kavya Jakasania, 13 years old, 7th grade

Jersey City, New Jersey

#126

Aria Khambhati, 9 years old, 4th grade

Maplewood, New Jersey

#127

Mariam Belkouchi, 13 years old, 7th grade

Maplewood, New Jersey

#128

Laura Joseph, 14 years old, 8th grade

Neptune, New Jersey

The 2023 Scripps National Spelling Bee preliminaries were last night. The quarterfinals are being streamed now at spellingbee.com. I had it on at work today and the live feed is great. Watch from 8 a.m. to 12:45 p.m today, Wednesday, May 31st. The semifinals will be streamed too, from 2:30 to 6:30 and 8 to 10 p.m.

The finals are tomorrow night live in primetime. Watch on ION and Bounce from 8 to 10 p.m. or HERE. Will there be another historic win? We’ll have to see. Last year had the very first spell off (after an 8 way tie in 2019). This years winner will get $50,000 and a number of other prizes, including the coveted Scripps Cup, the Bee’s national championship trophy.

E-N-J-O-Y watching, and let’s root for our local competitors!

Sign me up to for the BENefits Club email newsletter!

Make sure that you’re a member of one of Philadelphia’s most fun groups: The 95.7 BEN-efits Club to get concert and contest info, local and music news, and so much more straight to your inbox!

*
*
By clicking "Subscribe" I agree to the website's terms of Service and Privacy Policy. I understand I can unsubscribe at any time.