The spelling bee is a long-held tradition at Brentwood Christian School. Students in each class from 1st to 8th grade compete in a classroom competition, those winners go on to compete in the school-wide spelling bee. This year’s bee looked a little different as most things do right now but even a global pandemic couldn’t stop our students from competing. Scripps gave schools the option to run their bees online or in-person and our spelling bee went online. We had a number of students excited to participate with 20 advancing beyond the classroom!
Brentwood President, Jay Burcham said, “Before school even started, as soon as the online option was announced, I had both the elementary and secondary principals in my office saying they wanted to take our bee online. This was one of the shortest meetings and easiest decisions. We had a number of Bears who chose the online learning option for this school year. Making sure each and every Bear has the opportunity to participate in as much as possible has been a very important focus for us, especially this year.”
Every year our students put in an incredible amount of time and effort into practicing for the bee. For 6th grader Bryce O’Sullivan that extra study time paid off as he was named this year’s winner of the Brentwood Spelling Bee! Bryce has been the class winner and progressed to the school-wide level of competition every year since 1st grade! He is focused on the next step which will be a regional bee. His ultimate goal? Make it all the way to the National Spelling Bee in Washington DC.
Prior to starting this year’s online spelling bee, each student took an Integrity Pledge. Once the pledge was finished the online test began. Each speller had only 15 minutes to spell 25 words so focus and preparation were a must.
BCS fourth-grader Jason Tukunang came in second place. Jason has also competed school-wide for multiple years. Finishing in a three-way tie for third were eighth-graders Conor Schehl and Jocelyn Galvan, and fourth-grader Aarya Raulji. We want to congratulate all of our spelling bee competitors for their hard work and effort. We are so proud of each and every one of our students. Today and every day is a great day to be a Brentwood Bear!
2020 Spelling Bee Class Winners:
1st Grade – Aiden Kuczynski and Sara Pitts
2nd Grade – Brody O’Sullivan and Aiden Paras
3rd Grade – Ryan Kuczynski and Paul Sheth
4th Grade – Jason Tukunang, Jonathan Brockington, and Aarya Raulji
5th Grade – Tobi Olasode and Mark Sheth
6th Grade – Amayah Brinkley, Bryce O’Sullivan, and Xavier Parra
7th Grade – Rylee Johnson and Luke Sheth
8th Grade – Jocelyn Galvan, Isabella Parra, and Conor Schehl