After 149 words were spelled, eighth grader Areesha Mariyam claimed the title of 2024 Springhouse Middle School Spelling Bee Champion.

The young orthographer competed against 15 other contestants in grades six to eight for the championship title.

Along with Areesha, Saharsha Konda, Brady Laub, Sophie Law, Avaneesh Pachalla, Claire Jang, Aaditri Suresh, Cole Robinson, Mohid Mirza, Abigail John, Adwik Banerjee, Purvi Veerisetty, Jitesh Rana, Luc Baptiste, Shravani Shelke and Rohan Mokirala represented the top spellers of more than 50 Springhouse students who participated in the preliminary written round.

The Scripps National Spelling Bee provides students with the opportunity to sharpen their spelling skills through local, regional and national competitions.

Areesha became the champion after spelling her winning word, surfactant.

She will now represent Springhouse at the regional spelling bee in March.