Seventh Grader Earns Third in 35th Annual County Spelling Bee
Seventh grade student, Ethan Jenkins, spelled through at least 11 rounds in the 35th annual Anne Arundel County Spelling Bee to earn third place. Ethan out-spelled 25 other county students but fell to the spelling prowess of students from Crofton Middle School (2nd) and Macarthur Middle School (1st).
Ethan’s final word in the competition was French or French in origin and tripped up one of the year’s most unflappable and successful spellers at Slade.
The spelling bee competition is presented annually by the Anne Arundel County Public Schools Office of Secondary Reading, English, & Integrated Literacy. Sponsors included: Development Facilitators, Inc. (DFI), Educational Systems Federal Credit Union, Comcast, DALY Computers, M&T Bank, Horace Mann, American College of Education, Care First, National Teacher Association, Ricoh, and Whiting Turner.
The winning student will represent Anne Arundel County in the 2023 Scripps National Spelling Bee in May. The field of competitors in the county-wide competition included:
- Annapolis Middle School: Audrey Yankus
- Arundel Middle School: Fiyin Idris
- Bates Middle School: Samaadi Scott
- Brooklyn Park Middle School: Sophia Olds
- Central Middle School: Bobby MacLeod
- Chesapeake Bay Middle School: Robert Ramsey
- Chesapeake Science Point: Elijah Borden
- Corkran Middle School: Rachel Voytek
- Crofton Middle School: Briant Patterson (2nd)
- Indian Creek School: Kira Younger
- Lindale Middle School: Beorn Moon
- Macarthur Middle School: Bella Van (1st)
- Magothy River Middle School: Drew Gish
- Marley Middle School: Arianna Quasney
- Meade Middle School: Gavin Lacey
- Monarch Global Academy: Aisha Yusuff
- Northeast Middle School: Josh Gepilano
- Old Mill Middle School North: Chaniya Smith
- Old Mill Middle School South: Zohal Safi
- Severn River Middle School: Neve Stott
- Severna Park Middle School: Samuel Sirotin
- Southern Middle School: Danielle Huckleby
- Andrew’s United Methodist Day School: Matthew Ferris
- Anne’s School of Annapolis: Penelope Lindsay
- Martin’s Lutheran School: Sadie Hetrick
- Paul’s Lutheran School: Julian Weisman
- Severn School: Alex St. John
The Scripps National Spelling Bee is a not-for-profit educational promotion sponsored by the E.W. Scripps Company in conjunction with businesses and community organizations around the world. Each sponsor organizes a spelling bee program in its community with the cooperation of area school officials: private, charter, parochial, public, and home schools.