Mohave County Spelling Bee winner, Ethan Escobar, reacts to his win. Photo by Allen Scott
KINGMAN – The Mohave County Spelling Bee winner is Ethan Escobar, who is a fifth grader at Hualapai Elementary School. He garnered the top spot this year after finishing in 8th place last year. The next step for Ethan will be a run at the Arizona state championship to be held in Phoenix in September. State winners are then eligible to compete in the E. W. Scripps Company sponsored National Spelling Bee to be held in the Washington, DC area and is generally televised nationally on one of the ESPN channels. The Scripps National Spelling Bee has been held annually since 1925, except for the Covid years.
Ethan took the crown in the twelfth round of the contest edging out seventh grader Otto Supernat of Thunderbolt Middle School of Havasu City. The word that “spelled” the difference was ‘gumption’. Ethan’s parents are Jose and Czarina Escobar of Kingman.
There were 25 Mohave County students who qualified for the event that was held at the Mohave County Board of Supervisors auditorium and was “live streamed” on the counties cable channel. The local spelling bee coordinator this year is Linda Foggin and she said, “Students have to be certified and registered with Scripps, first. As long as they are registered, they are allowed to come and compete as long as they are their school’s spelling bee winner.”
The “moderator/pronouncer” for the event was Valentine School’s Superintendent Cliff Angle. He was a Mohave County Spelling Bee winner. Angle led the four-judge panel officiating the competition which is for fourth to eighth grade students under the age of 15.
The championship word was “gumption” indicating that someone is courageous or has ambitious enterprise. After the win, Ethan said, of the 12 words he got, “The word that almost stumped him was ‘gumption’.
About half of the twenty-five students entered in the Mohave County Spelling Bee fell out in the first round. But in the twelfth round, it was Ethan Escobar who came up with a championship win.
Allen Scott
