Savannah Huber, a student at Challenger School in Meridian, Idaho, had a different kind of strategy before the Southwest Idaho Regional Spelling Bee. She didn't study. After coming in sixth place last year with studying, she didn't want to get her hopes up for this year. She won with "deity."
Amith Vasantha, a seventh-grader from BASIS Independent Silicon Valley School in San Jose, California, received an enthusiastic send-off from his classmates as he embarked on the KPIX-TV/CBS Bay Area Spelling Bee regional finals. The cheers continued as Amith won when he successfully spelled “clogwyn.”
Nehem Felices, an eighth-grader at Landisville Middle School in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, was just trying to improve on his 2017 performance of third place. He was shocked and bewildered when he won the 60th Annual LNP Spelling Bee by correctly spelling "kiloton." He and his family are now making plans for the unexpected trip to the nation's capital.
Saketh Sundar, seventh-grader at Clarksville Middle School in Maryland, is the first three-time Howard County Library System Spelling Bee champion. The competition lasted more than five hours and ended with Saketh correctly spelling "boudin." Saketh made it to the prime time finals on ESPN last year.
Jasper Ralph, a fifth-grader from the West Tisbury School, bested five other competitors to win the 26th Annual Martha’s Vineyard Schools Spelling Bee. Jasper correctly spelled “apathy” and “fatigue” to win. Thanks to the regional high school and The Martha's Vineyard Times for being the sponsors of the program.
In Georgia, it all came down to one competition to determine who would advance to the national finals. From thousands of spellers across the state, there were just 20 in the 57th Annual Georgia Association of Educators State Spelling Bee. Kyu Alegre, a seventh-grader from Carrollton Junior High in Carrollton City, emerged as the winner.
In her third appearance at the Jefferson-Lewis-St. Lawrence Regional Spelling Bee in Watertown, New York, Ali VanTassel, a sixth-grader from Indian River, won by correctly spelling “chronology.” A total of 21 students in grades four through eight competed in the 30th year of the regional competition.
After four hours of spelling at the North Jersey Spelling Bee, Tai Nakamura, a sixth-grader from Patrick M. Villano Elementary School in Emerson, claimed the title and supersized trophy by correctly spelling "strabismus." The competition, in its 81st year, began the event with 100 spellers.
Co-champions have emerged from the Lake County Regional Spelling Bee in Grayslake, Illinois. After several rounds of spelling between the final two spellers, the coordinators announced co-champions. Sharanya Pastapur of Lake Zurich Middle School, and Anmol Dash from Daniel Wright Junior High School, both eighth-graders, now advance to the national finals.
Pacific Trails Middle School eighth-grader Kevin Luo took first place at the San Diego Union-Tribune Countywide Spelling Bee, becoming the second student in a row from Carmel Valley Middle School to win. His former classmate and last year's champion gave Kevin some helpful advice on study strategies. His winning word was “gradine.”