Cape Coral teen gets the buzz for spelling bee

  • 2014-06-05
The dream of making it to a national competition came true recently for Cape Coral teenager Jacob Williamson.

Williamson made it to the finals of the Scripps Spelling Bee at the end of May. Although he did not win this year, he caught the attention of plenty of people due to his enthusiasm. When he found out he made it to the finals, Williamson fell to his knees in excitement.

He ended up coming in seventh place in this year's Bee. The word ‘kabaragoya’ was what tripped him up, and he ended up misspelling the largest Asian reptile by a single letter. Williamson stated, however, that he was surprised to make it as far as he did in the competition.

Back home in Cape Coral, his friends were rooting for him. A neighbor, Brian Gonzales, described Williamson's spelling performance as awesome, stating that the teen was "into it 110 percent". Often, supporters will use methods like poster and banner printing to congratulate high achievers on their return home.

It wasn’t just Williamson's performance and excitement that drew attention to this year's event; for the first time ever, the top prize ended up being shared by two spellers, Ansun Sujoe and Sriram Hathwar.

As a 15-year-old eighth grader, Williamson was the oldest participant at the Bee. This year was the last year he will be eligible for the competition.