For the fifth year in a row, The Fourth Presbyterian School hosted the Scripps Regional Spelling Bee for Montgomery County on Saturday, March 2. The bee is sponsored by The Meakem Group and was held at Fourth Presbyterian Church in Bethesda.
Thirty-nine Montgomery County public and private schools were represented this year. Seventh grade student, Calvin Liu, from Takoma Park Middle School prevailed in the end, clinching the championship by spelling “brilliantine” correctly. Manav Mathur, a seventh grader from Rocky Hill Middle School, was the runner-up. Liu will now go on to compete in the 86th Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C. in May, along with hundreds of other elementary and middle school students from across the United States.
The winner of the National Bee receives a $30,000 cash prize and an engraved loving cup trophy from Scripps, a $2,500 savings bond, a reference library from Merriam-Webster, $3,800 in reference works from Encyclopædia Britannica, and a $5,000 cash prize from the Sigma Phi Epsilon Educational Foundation.