Landen Burns wins Strayer Spelling Bee

The Spelling Bee was the school’s largest ever with 60 students participating.
Posted on 03/04/2021
Landen Burns, right, won the Strayer Spelling Bee. Dylan Atlee-Wood, left, was the second-place finisher among 60 students.By Gary Weckselblatt

Strayer Middle School’s largest-ever Spelling Bee (60 students!) went into overtime with Landen Burns winning the competition by spelling the word “obeisance.”

“This was a great competition for the students and I’m very proud of all of them,” said Kadishe Stoudt, Strayer’s Spelling Bee coordinator. “Congratulations to Landen! I was quite surprised he could spell that. It’s not an easy word to spell.”

Dylan Atlee-Wood was 7th-grade winner and second-place finisher. Goda Minasamudram was the 8th-grade winner.

The competition lasted more than two hours, Mrs. Stoudt beamed as she stressed, “we went through the 150-word list and then needed bonus words to complete the Spelling Bee.”

“This was so much fun,” she said. “The students really wanted to participate and had a great experience. When you can do it virtually, there’s a lot less pressure. I’d like to do it virtually again next year.”

Landen will go on to represent Strayer in the Bucks/Mont Region SpellingBee. This year, the Scripps National Spelling Bee has developed an online testing platform in place of the traditional program. Students will sign up and take the 30-minute test on March 9 and 10. Winners are invited to the 2021 Scripps National Spelling Bee finals in Orlando on July 8.

The 60 Strayer students who participated in the Spelling Bee are Hailey Alsup, Mason Alwine, Dylan Atlee-Wood, Asad Baksh, Katelyn Bell, Augustine Bocelli, Braydon Bottone, William Bowen, Malcolm Boyd-Anderson, Ethan Brinckerhoff, Landen Burns, Sean Byfield, Amelia Castillo, Jack Cordero, Hailli Diamond, Hailey Disabella, Kevin Garcia, Logan Goepfert, Anna Greenday, Faith Greenday, Anna Haberle, Troy Hangey, Melaina Hanna, Addison Hellyer, Maeve Henry, Evon Kamel, Tariq Khalid, Samantha Kobal, Brecken LaBonge, Felicity Mandato, Makenzie Marco, Emily Markel, Daniel Michelotti, Goda Minasamudram, Lita Morris, Evelyn Moyer, Nigel Mutembei, Chanel Pineda, Wyatt Powell, Nicholas Read, Kaiden Reich, Justin Rhoads, Samantha Rider, Scott Rider, Morgan Rocco, Alexander Rosen, William Salazar, Jana Sears, Andrew Stewartson, Lilly Stroup, Sophia Sulzer, Dillon Thomas, Chase Warfield, Kendall Ward Weiner, Joseph Weber, Nicholas Wishingrad, Ayden Witman,Cassidy Yoder, Emma Ziskowski, Marcus Zola.

Chris Roth was the announcer, and Susan Smith the scorekeeper.

Gary Weckselblatt, QCSD Director of Communications, writes about the people and the programs that impact the Quakertown Community School District. He can be reached at 215-529-2028 or [email protected].
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