Last Wisconsin student in National Spelling Bee one letter short of making finals, places 10th
Wisconsin's last remaining student in the 2025 Scripps National Spelling Bee was eliminated in the final round of the semifinals on May 28 in National Harbor, Maryland.
It took the word "Allobroges" to take out New Berlin seventh grader Ethan Robert, who tied for 10th place in the nationwide competition that started with 243 students and is celebrating its 100th anniversary in 2025.
And he only missed the correct spelling by one letter, replacing the last "o" with an "i."
Throughout the semifinals, he correctly spelled "acetarious" (used in salads) and "vibices" (a linear subcutaneous extravasation of blood). He also correctly described the word "thermophilic" (of, relating to, or being an organism growing at a high temperature).
During the quarterfinals earlier on May 28, the New Berlin Eisenhower Middle/High School student correctly spelled "metanym," answered the vocabulary question for the word "albatross," a large seabird, and spelled "adobo," a dish of Spanish origin consisting of meat marinated in a spicy sauce, browned and then simmered in the marinade.
During the preliminary rounds on May 27, Robert correctly spelled the word "promyshlennik," meaning Russian trappers and fur traders of Siberia and Alaska.
Another Wisconsin speller, Appleton sixth grader Jacob Martonito, correctly spelled his first-round preliminary word but was eliminated on a vocabulary question in the second round on May 27. Martonito, who attends Appleton Classical School, correctly spelled "Makgadikgadi Pans," the name of a Botswana basin filled with salt beds. However, he incorrectly answered a vocabulary question on the word "ingenuous."
According to competition's website, Robert loves watching sports (especially the NFL), doing taekwondo, math and geography, hanging out with friends and online gaming. He also enjoys reading and listed the Percy Jackson series as his favorite book.
Contact Claudia Levens at clevens@gannett.com. Follow her on X at @levensc13.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: New Berlin student places 10th in National Spelling Bee
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