PRINCESS ANNE — Two Somerset County middle school teens participated in the 2022 Maryland Eastern Shore Regional Spelling Bee at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore.

Seventh grader Carmen Bailey represented Holly Grove Christian School and eighth grader Haylee Day was Crisfield Academy’s representative. Both are 13.

Haylee competed in 2019 as a fifth grader representing Woodson Elementary School.

UMES, which has sponsored the competition since 2013, did not hold the regional event a year ago because of concerns with maintaining safety as the COVID-19 pandemic surged.

The 2022 winner was Jeffrey Hsai of Bennett Middle School in Salisbury. The eighth grader won the competition by spelling 13 words correctly, including the championship word “likelihood.” He earned an automatic invitation to participate in the Scripps National Spelling Bee this May and June.

“I was very happy, and so proud,” Jeffrey said.
The 2022 bee was also the second time Jeffrey qualified for the regional competition; in 2019, he represented Fruitland Intermediate School.

Bennett Middle held its school-level bee a week prior to the event at UMES which was March 5. Jeffrey estimated he had five days to study the word guide each regional bee qualifier receives.

Jeffrey said he was motivated “to learn to spell new words correctly so I can do a good job on writing (school) papers.”

“I’m meticulous about using correct words,” he said.
Ten-year-old Ariana Miah, a fifth grader at Salisbury’s Pemberton Elementary School, was the runner-up.