Richard Sowa of Old Mill Middle School South outlasted 23 other champion spellers Saturday to capture the title at the 33rd annual Anne Arundel County Spelling Bee.
Richard correctly spelled the word “diamanté” in the eighth round to win the championship. Caroline Shenck of Severn School finished second and Courtlin Brown of Bates Middle School was third.
The county bee, held virtually this year, is presented annually by the Anne Arundel County Public Schools Office of Secondary Reading, English, & Integrated Literacy. This year’s presenting sponsor was Development Facilitators, Inc. (DFI). The event co-sponsors were Educational Systems Federal Credit Union, BGE, Comcast, DALY Computers, and M&T Bank. The event sponsors for this year were American College of Education, Aviation Law Firm, CareFirst, JMT and Whiting Turner.
Richard will represent Anne Arundel County in the 2021 Scripps National Spelling Bee this summer.
Also competing in this year’s bee were:
- Elvis Alfaro-Bonilla, Annapolis Middle School
- Darren Okosun, Arundel Middle School
- Reese Stepanoff, Brooklyn Park Middle School
- Zachariah Jackson, Central Middle School
- Paige Sanborn, Chesapeake Bay Middle School
- Christopher Mochca Techichil, Corkran Middle School
- Scott Cunningham, Crofton Middle School
- Olivia Connolly, George Fox Middle School
- Isabella Albert, Indian Creek School
- Jaylene McGuire, Lindale Middle School
- Gautham Thangaavel, Magothy River Middle School
- Chloe Smith, Marley Middle School
- Alex Pfeiffenberger, Monsignor Slade Catholic School
- Areyon Alston, Old Mill Middle School North
- Anna Schneider, Severn River Middle School
- Savannah Hogue, Severna Park Middle School
- Carrigan Weaver, Southern Middle School
- Alexis Parrott, St. Anne’s School of Annapolis
- Wafa Ashir, St. John the Evangelist School
- Leana Gould, St. Martin Lutheran School
- Josiah Carter, St. Paul’s Lutheran School
The Scripps National Spelling Bee is a not-for-profit educational promotion sponsored by The E.W. Scripps Company in conjunction with businesses and community organizations around the world. Each sponsor organizes a spelling bee program in its community with the cooperation of area school officials: private, charter, parochial, public, and home schools.