08-03-2025
New spelling champion crowned in statewide bee, now goes to national competition
The 2025 Delaware Regional Spelling Bee was e-l-e-c-t-r-i-c.
Competitors from around the state gathered Saturday at Delaware Technical Community College's Terry Campus in Dover to battle for a spot in the Scripps National Spelling Bee in May. There was no livestream because every state has the same word bank, but the last word spelled by this year's champion, Siara Husain of the Islamic Academy of Delaware in Ogletown, was codswallop, another term for nonsense.
Second place went to Talley Middle School in Brandywine Hundred's Aurelia Tran, and third place went to Kshirja Chauhan of Caravel Academy Middle School in Glasgow. The winner was invited to shadow Lt. Gov. Kyle Evans Gay for a day, according to First State Educate executive director Julia Keleher.
The event's host sponsor, First State Educate, said the competition included 50 students from public and private schools. Julia Keleher, executive director of First State Educate, said the event was an opportunity to show off the potential of Delaware's education systems.
"We need a moment to say we are really good at this and everybody cares," she said.
Gov. Matt Meyer, Department of Education Secretary Cindy Marten and 2025 Teacher of the Year Cory Hafer were guests of honor at this year's proceedings. Other sponsors of the event included the United Way of Delaware, Wilmington's Department of Parks and Recreation and the International Literacy Association.
Keleher said another goal of this competition is to motivate students and educators to push forward despite hardships lingering from the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to the Education Recovery Scorecard, Delaware is second to last nationally in math learning recovery and 47th nationally in reading recovery. The study said no districts in Delaware have returned to their 2019 levels in either math or reading.
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Keleher said raising that standard is a team effort, and sponsors that are not in the education field, like Wawa, the Delaware Blue Coats and Milan's Cheeseteaks, are particularly meaningful to Keleher and First State Educate.
"The whole event is about focusing attention on what's working on the excellence that we have," she said. "All of these people who are sponsors, who they don't directly touch the education system ... they're saying it's important, they care about Delaware's future."
This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: 2025 Delaware Regional Spelling Bee champion crowned in Dover
