21-03-2025
Chesapeake student to compete in national spelling bee
CHESAPEAKE — A Chesapeake Middle School fifth grader will compete in the 100th Annual Scripps Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C., at the end of May.
Joseph Keffer, 10, first won his classroom's spelling bee, which qualified him for the school's annual spelling bee.
'And he just kept winning,' Joseph's mother Laura Keffer said.
Joseph was able to move onto the Lawrence County Spelling Bee and eventually the regional spelling bee in Athens, Ohio, where he competed against students from Jackson, Meigs and Gallia counties, among other areas in the state, on March 1.
Although this is not the first time Joseph has competed, it will be his first time making it to nationals.
'He did the Chesapeake Spelling Bee last year, and he came in fourth or fifth, but this year he won, and just kept getting to go on. ... It's exciting just to make it to the national spelling bee, period. It's a big thing,' Laura Keffer said.
According to the Scripps National Spelling Bee webpage, the spelling bee will be from May 27-29. A broadcast schedule will be announced online starting May 1.
While the national competition originally started off with only nine participants in 1925, Scripps has hosted more than 200 spellers from across the country in the last couple of years, reaching millions of viewers.
'We're just really proud of him. He's really worked hard and pushed himself, and we're just really excited for him to get to ... compete at the national level,' Laura Keffer said.
Laura Keffer said Joseph often practices spelling words at home and uses an app developed by Scripps to study official pronunciations, definitions and origins and try to recognize patterns.
She said only the first two rounds of the competition have word lists for spellers to study in advance, but beyond that, judges could potentially ask competitors about any word in the dictionary.
All spellers will receive a prize package from Scripps for competing, including Bee souvenirs and a certificate of participation. All spellers will also receive a United States Mint proof set and one-year subscriptions to the unabridged online version of the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, Britannica Online Premium, Epic Family, and Tynker, plus eight live one-on-one coding classes through Byju's Future School.
Quarter finalists and semifinalists will receive gift cards and a commemorative pin or medal, respectively, and finalists will receive a medal and cash prizes that increase with placement.
But the champion will receive a $50,000 cash prize, a commemorative medal and the Scripps Cup from Scripps; a $2,500 cash prize and reference library from Merriam-Webster; and $400 of reference works, including a 1760 Encyclopædia Britannica Replica Set and a three-year membership to Britannica Online Premium from Encyclopædia Britannica.
The champion's school and sponsor will also receive an engraved commemorative plaque.
While there have been several champions from Ohio and Kentucky, there has never been a champion from Lawrence County in a century of competition.
Chesapeake Middle School Principal Glenn Dillon, who attended the school and has been principal for three years, said to his recollection, this is the first time CMS has sent a student to nationals.
'We're just very proud of Joseph. He's a very hardworking student. He puts a lot on himself to be the best that he can be in anything he does. He does put a lot of time in to study the words, but every aspect of the education process, he is constantly wanting to get better than he was the last time. So it's impressive to watch him. He definitely pushes himself,' Dillon said.
Dillon said, while Joseph isn't yet old enough to compete in many groups on the middle-school level, he recently competed in a math pong tournament at Ohio University Southern against other schools in the county and won.
'We're excited for him,' Dillon said. 'And I know all the teachers and the community itself is excited for him.'
Joseph said in a statement provided by Laura Keffer, 'It's been a long journey, and I'm super excited. I didn't expect to get this far, and I can't wait to go to Washington and try the nationals. I'm excited to represent my school.'
