Two F-M middle school students will compete in The Post-Standard | syracuse.com Final Regional Bee.
Wellwood student Hazel Bazzano and Eagle Hill student Nikhil Jasti both received high scores on the Regional Qualifier-level online test, securing their spots in the Final Regional Bee. Hazel and Nikhil are 2 of 20 students from regional schools who qualified.
The Final Regional Bee will be held on Saturday, March 22 at 11 a.m. in the Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University. This will be a traditional oral competition, and the winner will represent the region in the 2025 Scripps National Spelling Bee near Washington, D.C. This marks the 100th anniversary of the Scripps National Spelling Bee. To prepare for the Final Regional Bee, students are asked to study the Words of the Champions, which is a list of 4,000 study words.
Hazel and Nikhil’s journey to the Final Regional Spelling Bee started in the fall. Both students participated in F-M’s 2024-25 Spelling Bee in November. To qualify for that, they had to complete a 50-word written exam. Out of the 90 students who took the exam, the top 28 advanced to F-M’s spelling bee.
Eagle Hill student David Park took first place in the F-M bee, while Hazel placed second, Nikhil third, and Hajra Syed fourth. David and Hajra also were able to participate in the Regional Qualifying Test