On November 20th, immediately after school, three WHS students and one teacher emerged triumphant from the 2025 WHS Spelling Bee. Sean Bosco was the senior winner, Nabila Balami was the junior winner – she also spelled her way to overall champion, and Eli Nutakor was the sophomore winner. Three-year champion, Mrs. Kuske, was defeated by Mr. VanBloem. The finalists were challenged by the words provided, and showed their spelling skills by making it all the way to the fourth round. Kudos to these word warriors.
The focus for the event was having fun while being challenged. All participants showed courage for getting up on the stage and being willing to try. The WHS Spelling Bee follows a rich tradition of spelling bees across America.
Originally created as a way to practice spelling, spelling bees grew into a tradition from colonial era spelling matches. The term spelling bee originally emerged in print around 1850, with the word “bee” referring to a public gathering for a task. The National Education Association(NEA) held the first national spelling bee in 1908. It was a team-based competition, and Marie C Bolden, an African American teenager, became the first-ever spelling bee champion in the US, overcoming tricky words like ‘acquiesce’, ‘descendant’ and ‘millinery’ on her way to the top.
Although on a smaller scale, the WHS Spelling Bee also has its own rituals and traditions. Every year the National English Honor Society (NEHS) organizes the event. This year Mrs. Worden took charge and moved the competition from the media center to the stage and designed new trophies. Her vision was brought to life thanks to Mr. Maceikis and Mr. Kint. NEHS students posted flyers throughout the school encouraging students to sign up. There were also updates posted on NEHS’s Instagram page (@whs.nehs2026). All grade levels were welcomed, even teachers.
NEHS members ran the single-elimination competition. Participants walked up to the podium, and the judges gave them a word. Contestants could ask for origin, definition, word in the sentence, and part of speech. The first round was easy. These were common and easy words that most younger kids learn when growing up such as “super”, “yawn”, “zero”, “phone” and “love”. The next round was the fun round. These included fun and interesting words like “turkey”, “lollygag”, “gobble”, “Hogwarts”, and “yeet”. The third round was everyday words that are often misspelled: “pseudonym”, “separate”, “restaurant”, “questionnaire” and “inevitable”. The fourth and final round was the hard round. This was the final chance for contestants to show their word mastery. Words included in this round were “ingenious”, “Massachusetts”, “millennium”, and “bureaucracy”.
Although it sounds intimidating, WHS’s Spelling Bee is anything but. Participants are encouraged to have fun, and audience members give encouragement from the stands while eating the snacks and sodas that were provided for all who attended. In addition to trophies, winners received gift cards to local restaurants; candy; and class room must haves such as pens, makers, sticky notes. The event only lasts about an hour and is well worth your time. It was disappointing that no freshman participated this year, but NEHS is hoping to remedy that next year. Consider coming out and joining the fun in the fall of 2026. Bee the change you want to see in the world.
Thank you to the National English Honors Society (NEHS)
for hosting this event and keeping the spelling bee tradition alive.
