WeHa Eighth-Grader Crushes It During Spelling Bee

WEST HARTFORD, CT — For the rest of eighth-grader Ethan Zimmer's life, the Indian metropolis of Mumbai will always hold a special place in his heart.

That's because, last week, Zimmer correctly spelled "Mumbai" in the 16th round of West Hartford Public Schools' annual spelling bee, taking home a trophy and bragging rights across all of WeHa's three middle schools.

Of course, the King Philip Middle School pupil will probably be besieged to check his friends' essays and term papers for as long as he's in school.

But he probably doesn't mind that, after all, reading is an avocation that dominates his life ... making him a decent speller, Ethan said.

“I have always loved to read and always make time for it, even if the only time I can squeeze it in is late at night. I also tend to read long novels and books above 500 pages. In reading, I’ve picked up lots of new words and noticed spelling patterns kind of subconsciously," he said.

"How words are spelled in different contexts, what letters were used when. I studied using a lot of different resources. Spelling has always come easy to me and I think it’s because of how much I read. I’d say reading is my favorite pastime.”

As for the spelling bee, Ethan described his experience onstage as a mix of tension and anticipation, especially as his competitors dwindled as the night wore on.

“When I looked around and saw that there were only a few people left and I was still on stage competing, I was excited and nervous, because I knew that, at any moment, I could be eliminated," Ethan said. "And I really wanted to win.”

His mother, Jacqueline Zimmer, was gushing at the victory.

"He has lived in West Hartford all his life and loves living in our town. He is an avid reader which probably contributed to him learning how to spell so well," she said. "He’s such a great kid and we are so very proud of him."

The event took place at West Hartford Town Hall on Jan. 18, with Bristow Middle School's Eliza McClure coming in second place, completing 15 rounds of vocabulary warfare.

Both Zimmer and McClure will be participating in the Connecticut Spelling Bee in March, which will take place close by at Saint Joseph University in West Hartford.

That contest will determine Connecticut's representation of the famous National Spelling Bee by Scripps Howard.

Of course, it is only appropriate that West Hartford hosts the state's spelling bee, as it is the home of the Noah Webster House & West Hartford Historical Society, which sponsored West Hartford's event.

Webster, after all, is a famous, early-American wordsmith whose name is on the beloved dictionary most of us peruse when we need a word's meaning or spelling.

And if folks want to re-live the excitement of that night, they can watch the spelling bee via West Hartford Community Interactive's Youtube channel — meaning Zimmer can re-live his glory for as long as the internet exists.