The winner of this year's Bee Spectacular will compete in the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C.
Somerset County Library System of New Jersey recently held its first Bee Spectacular.
The spelling bee, held at Montgomery High School, featured 37 contestants. The winner, Henry Banta, will be able to attend the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C. An eight grade student from Franklin Middle School in Somerset, he also received a check for $1,000.
Second place winner was Shreyan Das, a seventh grade student from Bridgewater-Raritan Regional Middle School in Bridgewater. Third place winner was Anmol Bhatia, a fifth grade student from Green Brook Middle School in Green Brook.
"I love academic competitions," said Fiona Pan, an eighth grade student at Montgomery Upper Middle School in Skillman who secured her spot in the Bee Spectacular by spelling the word corporal correctly. "I have competed in past years and want to challenge myself to going further than I ever have before."
4th time's the charm for champion
Here is a list of the contestants:
Adamsville Elementary School in Bridgewater
Shreyans Sarkar, grade 3
Sonika Sunkara, grade 3
Bayberry School in Watchung
Juliette Cheng, grade 4
Heather Li, grade 4
Branchburg Central Middle School in Branchburg
Anil Kamdar, grade 8
Jason Seeley, grade 7
Bridgewater-Raritan Regional Middle School in Bridgewater
Shreyan Das, grade 7
Sanjay Rao, grade 7
Cedar Hill Preparatory School in Somerset
Kathryn Lytkowski, grade 8
Megha Thomas, grade 8
Crim Elementary School in Bridgewater
Aidan English, grade 3
Amalia Tsampalis, grade 3
Eisenhower Intermediate School in Bridgewater
Harshita Kalyanaraman, grade 5
Krish Singla, grade 5
Franklin Middle School in Somerset
Henry Banta, grade 8
Ria Desai, grade 7
Green Brook Middle School in Green Brook
Danyal Aftab, grade 6
Anmol Bhatia, grade 5
Hamilton Elementary School in Bridgewater
Alexander Rubin, grade 3
Ali Siddiqi, grade 3
Hillside Intermediate School in Bridgewater
Aarsha Shah, grade 6
Selina Zhu, grade 5
Montgomery Lower Middle School in Skillman
Pranav Chaturvedi, grade 5
Stefan Elez, grade 6
Jackson Smith, grade 5
Montgomery Upper Middle School in Skillman
Anshul Guha, grade 7
Fiona Pan, grade 8
School of Saint Elizabeth in Bernardsville
Anne Kaczynski, grade 5
William Krzastek, grade 5
Thomas Edison Energysmart Charter School in Somerset
Sarang Patki, grade 7
Alexandria Pierre, grade 5
Valley View School in Watchung
Mariam Contractor, grade 6
Abiram Gupta, grade 8
Warren Middle School in Warren
Nicole Harris, grade 8
Andrew Shi, grade 7
Woods Road Elementary School in Hillsborough
Tristan Carrington, grade 4
Frederic Gordon, grade 3
Emcee for the evening was Somerset County Freeholder Patrick Scaglione and pronouncer was County Library Administrator Brian Auger.
Judges included:
Head Judge - Somerset County Library Commissioner Corinne Fender
Dictionary Judge - Somerset County Library Commissioner George Jarvis
Rounds & Records Judge - Somerset County Library Commission Vice Chair Chris Corsini
Appeals Judge - Somerset County Library Commissioner Sherri Lynn