Carrollton student places third at regional spelling bee

The winner of Carrollton’s spelling bee finished third at The Canton Repository’s 80th Regional Final Spelling Bee, held March 7 at Kent State University’s Fine Arts Building.

According to Tim Albrecht, regional spelling bee coordinator, Remmi Cunningham, a seventh-grader at Carrollton Middle School, placed third in the regional competition after misspelling “scoliosis.” Cunningham is the daughter of Jason and Rachel Cunningham of Mechanicstown.

Tommy Schervish of St. Michael School placed first in the regional event by correctly spelling “cybernetics.” Savanna Stein, a student at Canton Country Day School, placed second.

Albrecht said the closest competition came during the seventh-round spell-off to determine second and third place among the three remaining competitors: Stein, Cunningham and Jelin Zheng of Millersburg Elementary School.

Stein and Cunningham continued competing until Stein correctly spelled “hallucinate” and Cunningham misspelled “sclerosis.” Stein then correctly spelled “diatonic” to clinch second place, leaving Cunningham in third.

Schervish now qualifies for the Scripps National Spelling Bee, which will be held May 25-26 in Washington, D.C.