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.