LAFAYETTE — Seven Indiana students have won their regional competitions and are now heading to the Scripps National Spelling Bee.
Seventh grader Joey Finnerty has been competing in spelling bees since fourth grade and this year, he won the regional competition and made it to the national stage.
He's the first East Tipp Middle School student to go to the Scripps Bee.
"I am kind of excited, but since there are so many people it kind of makes me think I'm not going to do super good and I'm probably not going to get very far, but if I think if I try my best, I'll do fine," Joey said.
Every night Joey puts in an hour of studying with the help of resources from Scripps. His goal is to practice 100 spelling words and 100 vocab words.
"At this level, the words are so difficult, most of them I don't even know what they are," Patrick Finnerty, Joey's dad, said.
Joey will be challenged on his vocabulary during a word meaning round of the Bee which is a multiple-choice vocabulary question. This new element started last year to advance the bee's focus on word knowledge and literacy.
"If I get the first word wrong, I will feel pretty disappointed, but as long as I try my best, I'll be happy," Finnerty said.
The competition is fully back in person this year at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center just outside of Washington D.C. The preliminaries are on May 31.
This year, for the first time in bee history, the semifinals and finals rounds will be aired exclusively on ION and Bounce, which are free Scripps TV stations.
-
Conference in Indianapolis preparing superintendents of the future
One group is working to encourage more educators of color to pursue leadership roles, including the top position in school districts.
38th Street Renaissance Project revitalizing East side corridor
New Direction Church and National Bank of Indianapolis are revitalizing East 38th Street, creating jobs and helping residents become homeowners through the 38th Street Renaissance Project.
Hoosiers face mounting medical debt reaching thousands of dollars
Bearing the burden of medical debt impacts many Hoosier families. In our state, there’s an estimated $2.2 billion of medical debt in collections.
Council approves Sept. 22 public hearing on Google data center fate
Monday night, all 25 City-County Council members voted to approve a public hearing on the proposed Franklin Township Google Data Center for September 22 after a packed meeting.
