CHARLOTTE — There are still kids out there who don’t need autocorrect to be elite spellers, and several from the Charlotte area will be going to Washington, D.C. to represent the Carolinas in the Scripps National Spelling Bee.
Bank of America Stadium and the Carolina Panthers played host to the 2023 Regional Spelling Bee Program this past weekend. Dozens of students from North Carolina and South Carolina wore their numbered bibs and took to the stage to spell their given words, but only a few earned spots to go to Washington, D.C.
[ RELATED: Union County fourth-grader wins district-wide spelling bee ]
Three local students -- Rex Dover of Belmont Middle School in Gaston County, Rishi Jayakumar of The Brawley School in Iredell County, and Peyton Goldenstein of Clover Middle School in York County -- spelled their way to get tickets to the national championship.
It’s been a long time since a Carolinian won on the national stage. Libby Childress of Winston-Salem was the last person to do it, and that was in 1970. Only one other person from North Carolina has won: Doris Ann Hall of Winston-Salem in 1952. Nobody from South Carolina has ever won the National Spelling Bee.
(WATCH BELOW: Scripps National Spelling Bee: What you need to know)
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