Jacob Winfield, an eighth-grade student at Innovation Academy at South Campus, spelled his way to Washington, D.C. to compete in the Scripps National Spelling Bee. Winfield was one of just eight students from North Carolina to qualify for the national level competition.
He began competing in Johnston County Public Schools’ (JCPS) district-wide spelling bees as a fourth-grade student at Riverwood Elementary and has participated in the competition every year since. What drew Winfield to the world of spelling bees was his interest in etymology, coupled with the idea of competing with others from across JCPS. “I’ve always been intrigued by the origins of words, and how and why they’re used,” he said.
When Winfield received the news that he had qualified, he was shocked. “I was astounded that only eight people were picked, seeing as there were several candidates who would’ve done a great job with this,” Winfield said.
The week-long event included activities for the 247 spellers who earned their spots by advancing through regional spelling bees. The hosts encouraged each of them with words of praise throughout the competition to help build their confidence before stepping on the big stage. Participants included students from around the country and five spellers outside of the United States, including the Bahamas, Canada, Ghana, Nigeria, and the United Arab Emirates.
The Scripps National Spelling Bee is a nationally revered annual academic competition in the United States that tests the word mastery, literacy, and composure of elementary and middle school students under the age of 15.
"I’ve always been intrigued by the origins of words, and how and why they’re used.”
The event is separated into four segments: preliminaries, quarterfinals, semifinals, and finals. Each segment has at least one round of competition, with only the preliminaries having a predetermined number of rounds (three). The first two rounds consisted of long lists of possible words to memorize. Round three had a list of 500 words for the participants to study.
Winfield successfully advanced through rounds one and two, wowing the crowd by correctly spelling “Charybdis”, which is a sea monster in Greek mythology. He recognized the word from a passage he had read in his 8th-grade English Language Arts (ELA) class.
Winfield and his family are thankful that JCPS provides its students with the opportunity to compete at the national level. It was an unforgettable experience for Winfield, and he hopes his journey will inspire other students to work toward competing in the future.