Ft. Meade Area Middle School Student Wins 34th Annual Spelling Bee

A Ft Meade area middle school student recently won the 34th annual Anne Arundel County Spelling Bee.

Sélah Sutton of MacArthur Middle School outlasted 24 other champion spellers Saturday to capture the title. Sélah correctly spelled the word “annihilate” in the 11th round to win the championship. Jackson Olexy of Crofton Middle School finished second and Cassandra White of Severn River Middle School was third.

The county bee, held in person this year, is presented annually by the Anne Arundel County Public Schools Office of Secondary Reading, English, & Integrated Literacy. This year’s presenting sponsor was Development Facilitators, Inc. (DFI).  The event sponsors were Educational Systems Federal Credit Union, BGE, Comcast, DALY Computers, M&T Bank, and Horace Mann. The champion sponsors for this year were American College of Education, JMT, and Whiting Turner.

Sélah will represent Anne Arundel County in the 2022 Scripps National Spelling Bee in May.

Also competing in this year’s bee were:

Annapolis Middle School: Audrey Yankus

Arundel Middle School: Gavin Dean-St. Clair

Brooklyn Park Middle School: Briana Hathaway

Central Middle School: Calvin Henggeler

Chesapeake Bay Middle School: Odin Arnell

Corkran Middle School: Addison Simmons

Indian Creek School: Isabelle Sussman

Lindale Middle School: Uwaezoke Ihechi

Magothy River Middle School: Gautham Thangaavel

Marley Middle School: Chloe Smith

Meade Middle School: Gavin Lacey

Monsignor Slade Catholic School: London Smith

Northeast Middle School: Hailey Scott

Old Mill Middle School North: Jacob Urban-Davis

Old Mill Middle School South: Liam Smith

Severn School: Lottie Morgan

Severna Park Middle School: Reid Bergstrom

St. Anne’s School of Annapolis: Jameson Cutler

St. Martin Lutheran School: Denis Hein

St. Paul’s Lutheran School: Julian Weisman

Southern Middle School: Lillian Martin

Wiley H. Bates Middle School: Jeannette Manseau

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.