Centerville middle schooler wins Regional Spelling Bee, advances to D.C.

Aurora Spisak from Watts MS takes first place out of 47 school winners; Cedarville, Springfield students also in top 3
The winners of the 2024 Wright State Regional Spelling Bee included, from left: second place, William Landon, 12, of Cedarville; first place, Aurora Spisak, 13, of Centerville; and third place, Matthew Comer, 11, who attends Ridgewood School in Springfield. Courtesy of Wright State University.

The winners of the 2024 Wright State Regional Spelling Bee included, from left: second place, William Landon, 12, of Cedarville; first place, Aurora Spisak, 13, of Centerville; and third place, Matthew Comer, 11, who attends Ridgewood School in Springfield. Courtesy of Wright State University.
Local News
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March 7, 2024
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Aurora Spisak, a seventh-grader at Watts Middle School in Centerville, smiled as she held the big trophy Wednesday night, but a day later she said winning the Regional Spelling Bee at Wright State University still felt “kind of not real.”

The competition involved 47 spellers from across the Dayton region and lasted 20 rounds, according to organizers at Wright State.

Spisak, 13, said she has always been interested in literature and spelling, and had prepared for the competition since January, when she won her school’s spelling bee.

She’ll continue preparing through May, because Spisak now advances to compete in the 2024 Scripps National Spelling Bee this summer near Washington, D.C. The semifinal round is May 29 and the final round is May 30. The final round will be televised on the ION network.

“I’m excited for the thrill of being in a national competition,” Spisak said.

Her winning word was Orinoco, the name of one of South America’s longest rivers.

Spisak said all of the spellers in the competition were “terrific.” The other two winners included second-place finisher William Landon, 12, from Cedarville, and third-place finisher Matthew Comer, 11, of Ridgewood School, a private school in Springfield.

Aurora Spisak, 13, of Centerville, during the Wright State Regional Spelling Bee on Wednesday. Courtesy of Wright State University.

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This was the first time the regional spelling bee had been held in-person since 2019, and the first time Wright State had ever hosted.

“Wright State is thrilled to be hosting the Scripps Regional Spelling Bee and to support our region’s learners in their love of language and admirable depth of knowledge,” WSU President Sue Edwards said.

The regional spelling bee included students from grades 4-8. Spellers studied “Words of the Champions,” the 4,000-word list provided by the Scripps National Spelling Bee, to prepare for the competition.

In addition to qualifying for the national competition, Spisak also wins these prizes:

  • The Samuel Louis Sugarman Award, a 2024 United States Mint Proof Set provided by Jay Sugarman, chair and CEO of iStar Financial.
  • Britannica Online Premium, a one-year subscription to the premier online resource from Encyclopedia Britannica.
  • Merriam-Webster Unabridged Online, a one-year subscription to the official word source for the Scripps National Spelling Bee.
  • Epic Family, a one-year subscription to the world’s largest digital library for children with access to more than 40,000 books, audiobooks and videos.
  • Tynker, a one-year subscription to a leading K–12 creative coding platform plus eight live one-on-one online coding classes.
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About the Author

Eileen McClory is the education reporter for the Dayton Daily News. She grew up in the Dayton area and returned to cover her hometown.