Was it ever your dream as a kid to compete in the National Spelling Bee? Two Stillwater kids have a shot of making that dream happen as seventh-grader home school student Mazie Finch and fifth-grader Gavin Bambrough from Westwood Elementary will compete in the Central Oklahoma Spelling Bee for a chance to go to Washington D.C. for the National Spelling Bee.
Finch won the regional competition that included Payne and Lincoln Counties. At that same regional, Bambrough was the runner-up. Finch and Bambrough will compete in the state-level bee on March 2 at Children’s Hospital at OU Medical Center in Oklahoma City. The bee will start at 1 p.m. and will be broadcast live at newsok.com/live.
Finch is a spelling bee veteran, having finished in the final three of the Central Oklahoma Spelling Bee last year as a sixth-grader, surviving 19 rounds according to The Oklahoman. She participates through Heritage Academy which is a home school co-op. Her championship word at the regional was haberdashery which we had a tough time just trying to type that word.
Bambrough is in his first year competing because it was the first year for Westwood to get involved in the Scripps program. It’s been a big couple of months for him because his design was also selected for a Wings of Hope butterfly that will be displayed at Westwood for years to come.
According to the Stillwater News Press, Gavin’s mother Stefanie Bambrough said that after Gavin won his school be that he was motivated by the trip to D.C. and at each level he studies longer and longer lists of words.
If either can win the state-level bee, he or she will head to National Harbor, Maryland for the national bee that will be May 26-30. The primetime finals are nationally televised. Two years ago, Edmond’s Rohan Rajeev made it all the way to second-place at the national bee.
