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!
