Students in Middle Tennessee could be cut out of the national spelling bee if a sponsor doesn’t step forward soon. For the first time in at least a decade, Middle Tennessee won’t have a spelling bee — at least at anything higher than school level.
The region does not have a sponsor this year, meaning students will have no opportunity to advance to the Scripps National Spelling Bee. Sponsors are expected to dedicate $6,000 to $8,000 toward the event, travel, lodging and dining money for the winning student and one parent to attend the national bee in Washington, D.C.
The nonprofit organization Crossings Nashville Action Partnership sponsored the regional bee in 2014 and 2015.
Diana Kulas, whose son Benjamin advanced to the national bee in 2014, has been actively involved in the local bee for at least five years.
As a judge of this year’s bee, she said some students will be “horribly disappointed if they won their school bee and not have anywhere else to go.”
Middle Tennessee has had semifinalists in the national competition, including Jonathan Caldwell in 2013 and Benjamin Kulas in 2014. The region has not had a winner. An individual school can still register to hold an individual bee, and even sponsor its own student to advance — if it pays the required fees.