Max Abbott middle schooler wins Cumberland County spelling bee
Angelo Aldoph, 13, liked to spell early in life, say his parents. He would even spell M-I-L-K when he wanted that beverage.
On Friday morning, Angelo’s love of spelling paid off. He correctly spelled “crustaceans” to win the Cumberland County Schools' Championship Spelling Bee, punching his ticket to the Scripps National Spelling Bee scheduled for Memorial Day weekend in May.
Angelo, a seventh-grader at Max Abbott Middle School, outlasted eight other spellers in the bee, held in the Educational Resource Center for Cumberland County Schools. All the competitors were champions, having won their classroom and school bees; earlier in the week, they had each won a regional Level III bee to qualify for the finals on Friday.
Angelo, asked about the secret to his success, said he created a spelling bee simulator through the online programming site Scratch.
“If you spell a certain amount of words, you beat the game,” he said.
Angelo placed third in the finals two years ago. He described himself as excited Friday — though his demeanor was calm during the interview, and during competition.
Angelo’s parents, Jean and Sachiko Adolph, said seeing Angelo compete could be stressful.
But: “My son, he seems to be handling it very well,” Sachiko said.
The finals competition lasted 13 rounds. Spellers knocked out words like “lithophone,” “dreadlocks,” “adolescence,” “statistician” and “gluttonous.”
Emily Staneata, a 7th-grader at St. Patrick Catholic School, was the runner-up. Julia Lim of the Cumberland Virtual Academy K-5 placed third.
On Wednesday, Emily had outlasted Lauren Anderson of Renaissance Classical Christian Academy in the longest competition of the week — 27 rounds.
On Friday, Emily said she had competed in bees before, “But I’ve never gotten this far.”
Myron B. Pitts can be reached at mpitts@fayobserver.com or 910-486-3559.
This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: Max Abbott middle schooler wins Cumberland County spelling bee
