Minnesota Spellers Travel to Washington
Through the sponsorship from The Minnesota Service Cooperatives, nine spellers from the state traveled to Washington, D.C. for the 99th Scripps National Spelling Bee “Bee Week.” These students had previously won their local school bee and their regional service cooperative bee.The students included Yupeng Chen (Northeast Service Cooperative), Elijah Elledge (South Central Service Cooperative), Jaden Go (Northwest Service Cooperative), Leyla Jacobson (Resource Training & Solutions), Kai Riedner (BrightWorks/SparkPath), William Rausch (Sourcewell), Roberto Villasboas (Southeast Service Cooprative), Holland Vogel (SWWC Service Cooperative) and Jacob Warner (Lakes Country Service Cooperative).
Prior to travelling together with their chaperones and two representatives from The Minnesota Service Cooperatives, students and families joined for an ice breaker virtual meet-up where they were able to meet and play some spelling themed, “Would you rather?” By the time they boarded the plane, where they were welcomed by the flight crew over the aircraft speakers, fast friendships had already formed.
“It was so nice to have met each other in advance,” said a speller’s parent. “When we were here last year, the students hadn’t met each other until they were seated on the stage during competition.”
Although individual service cooperatives had been hosting bees in the past, the new sponsorship under The Minnesota Service Cooperatives allowed for central coordination of the travel details and activity coordination.
Bee Week did not disappoint in comradery for the Minnesota contingency and 236 other spellers from across the U.S., territories and international schools. Students enjoyed a puzzle scavenger hunt (Elijah was on the winning team), a Memorial Day picnic at Audi Field, a D.C. trolley tour, a presentation by Merriam-Webster chief editor on the history of the modern dictionary and of course bee spelling and vocabulary!
After the first three rounds of spelling and vocabulary, Yupeng, Kai, Jaden and William advanced to the quarterfinals. William then advanced to the semifinals. Although he did not advance, he was seated on stage during the final rounds of the competition to cheer for the remaining contestants.
As the week wrapped up, our Minnesota students were already discussing how they were going to prepare to ensure they could come back for the Bee’s 100th year! Thank you to The Minnesota Service Cooperatives and additional sponsors Lathrop GPM, Medica and WEX.
Registration for the 2024-25 school year is open! Visit spellingbee.com to register your school and give your students the opportunity to be the next spelling bee champion!
