Forty students have advanced to the 2018 Chester County Spelling Bee on Friday, February 9:

• Avon Grove Intermediate School: Aaditya Joshi
• Caln Elementary School: Daniella Ayuknsock
• Chadds Ford Elementary School: Anand Shah
• Charles F. Patton Middle School: Elias Bomberger
• Chester County Homeschool Group: Elle Herson
• Collegium Charter School: Andrew Fedor
• Devon Preparatory School: Liam Sargent
• Downingtown Middle School: Sarah Crawford
• East Fallowfield Elementary School: Avery O’Hara
• East Vincent Elementary School: Samantha Koury
• East Ward Elementary School: Pavan Ulaganthan
• Fred S Engle Middle School: Tanvi Joshi
• Friendship Elementary School: Barwo Cooper
• Great Valley Middle School: Krishna Doraisamy
• Hillendale Elementary School: Will Neuberger
• Hopewell Elementary School: Jackson Shover
• King’s Highway Elementary School: Aryanna Tooles
• Marsh Creek Sixth Grade Center: Sriananya (Ananya) Paladugu
• North Coventry Elementary School: Joseph Yannick
• Octorara Jr/Sr High School: Tommy Hart
• Owen J. Roberts Middle School: Sarah Ewing
• Penn Wood Elementary School: Jilian Silver
• Penn’s Grove School: Wynter Herrera
• Pickering Valley Elementary School: Shihan Madam
• Pocopson Elementary School: Navya Nadkarni
• Pope John Paul II Reg. Catholic Elementary School: Alison Andrey
• Rainbow Elementary School: Aisha Pierre
• Saint Agnes School: Anna Wise
• Saint Norbert School: Lauren Files
• Saints Peter and Paul School: John Tapia
• Sarah Starkweather Elementary School: Desmond Saito
• Shamona Creek Elementary School: Aanya Sanghvi
• Saints Simon and Jude School: Evelyn Hewitt
• Stetson Middle School: Aditya Barbara
• Sugartown Elementary School: Abhinav Kavalipati
• Tredyffrin-Easttown Middle School: Evan Lu
• Uwchlan Hills Elementary School: Dhriti Parulekar
• Villa Maria Academy: Jordi De Jong
• West Chester Christian School: Zach Fair
• West Vincent Elementary School: Olivia Savochka

The event, which begins at 9 AM, will be streamed live on CCiTV and is a qualifying bee for the Scripps National Spelling Bee. It will be held at the Chester County Intermediate Unit’s Educational Service Center (Entrance B), located at 455 Boot Road in Downingtown.

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The Chester County Spelling Bee, which is coordinated by the CCIU and sponsored by CCRES Educational and Behavioral Health Services, is open to all students enrolled in a Chester County public, private, parochial, or home school in any grade up to and including eighth grade, and who did not reach their 15th birthday on or before Aug. 31, 2017.

According to Brenda McNeil, CCIU special events coordinator, each participating school is able to send one student to the Chester County Spelling Bee.

“Each of the participants is the winner from his or her school’s local spelling bee, and each school is permitted to determine its own qualifying structure for its entrant, provided it follows the eligibility requirements,” she said.

The last student standing on stage on Friday will have earned a trip for two to Washington, D.C., to compete in the Scripps National Spelling Bee and Bee Week.

Last year, Downingtown Middle School student Sid Sharma emerged as the champion. Former champion Aakash Narayan of Great Valley Middle School placed second and there was a tie between Ritish Kodali from Kathryn D. Markley Elementary School and Lineesha Kamana of the Marsh Creek Sixth Grade Center for third place.

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