Arizona Spelling Bee 2015

Each year, the state’s best spellers in grades K-8 come together for the Arizona Spelling Bee to determine who will represent Arizona in the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C. Hosted by Eight, Arizona PBS, the Arizona Spelling Bee is taped at the Eight studios on the downtown Phoenix campus of Arizona State University.

The winner and an escort receive an all-expense paid trip to our nation’s capital to compete with spellers from across the U.S. on May 24–May 29, 2015.

An Eight original production made possible by the Arizona Educational Foundation.

The Spelling Bee challenges children to utilize their spelling and phonetic skills in a competitive environment. The finalists must first win a series of competitions at local, district and regional or county levels. The 28 winners from the county spelling bees compete in the 2015 Arizona Spelling Bee.

2015 finalists:

Allyssa Hibbetts
8th Grade
Round Valley Middle School
(Springerville)

Ethan Johnson
7th Grade
Center for Academic Success
(Sierra Vista)

Katrina Vollmer
6th Grade
San Francisco de Asis Catholic School
(Flagstaff)

Colton Justice
6th Grade
Rim Country Middle School
(Payson)

Nevaeh Pompeo
6th Grade
Thatcher Elementary School
(Thatcher)

Lorenzo Harris
7th Grade
Duncan Elementary School
(Duncan)

Angelo Carballo
8th Grade
Wallace Jr. High School
(Parker)

Megan Chen
7th Grade
Kyrene Altadena Middle School
(Phoenix)

Tommy LaPenna
7th Grade
Kyrene Middle School
(Tempe)

Aditi Baghel
5th Grade
Fireside Elementary School
(Phoenix)

Keshav Nandakumar
7th Grade
Sierra Verde STEM Academy
(Glendale)

Henry Calkins
5th Grade
Madison #1 Middle School
(Phoenix)

Savannah Turley
7th Grade
Faith North School
(Phoenix)

Karl Matthew Alcance
8th Grade
Abraham Lincoln Traditional School
(Phoenix)

Dani Zylstra
8th Grade
Mountain Sky Jr. High School
(Phoenix)

Tatiana Asadourian
5th Grade
Desert Oasis Elementary School
(Surprise)

Ananya Eeraveni
8th Grade
Western Sky Middle School
(Goodyear)

Marcus Behling
8th Grade
Arizona College Prep Erie
(Chandler)

Isha Paode
8th Grade
Willis Jr. High School
(Chandler)

Bridgette Smith
6th Grade
White Cliffs Middle School
(Kingman)

Brynna Johnston
6th Grade
Snowflake Intermediate School
(Snowflake)

Jillian Smith
6th Grade
Esperero Canyon Middle School
(Tucson)

Daniel Ward
5th Grade
Mesquite Elementary School
(Tucson)

Alaya Walton
8th Grade
Cactus Canyon Jr. High School
(Apache Junction)

Ashley Avila
8th Grade
Desert Shadows Middle School
(Nogales)

Tanner Dodt
5th Grade
Heritage Christian Home Educators
(Prescott Valley)

Naina Misra
6th Grade
Bagdad Middle School
(Bagdad)

Yazan Abdella
7th Grade
Crane Middle School
(Yuma)

*contestants arranged in alphabetical order by county