The 11-year-old made it through by taking the Philadelphia regional bee in March at WHYY Studios. He will participate in the 100th annual Scripps National Spelling Bee, May 27–29 at the Gaylord National Resort in Washington, D.C.
“I was happy, relieved, and felt glad,” Jayden said of his win and chance to return on the national stage.
Jayden first made the national bee last year when he was still a fourth-grader at Philadelphia Performing Arts Charter School. He reached the quarterfinals and placed 60th out of 245 contestants — a solid first try. He aced words like “ingot” and “passacaglia,” and properly defined “grouse” in vocabulary, but got eliminated after misspelling the word “rood” — an obscure word that means cross or crucifix.
This year, Jayden is more prepared than ever before.
“Last year, I realized it’s not feasible to memorize the entire dictionary, but I can learn about the roots and patterns of words across different languages to help with words I’ve never seen before,” he clarified.
A New Strategy for a New Year
In preparation for this year’s bee, he’s been studying more intensively — focusing on language origins, etymology, and spelling patterns across various languages.
“I used to just study the 4,000 championship words and 500 third-round words Scripps provides,” he explained. “But this year, I’m going beyond those lists — studying roots, and learning how different languages influence spelling.”
For instance, Jayden said the letter “J” is pronounced like an “H” in Spanish, and French words could have a lot of silent letters that must be memorized.
Learning From Experience
Jayden remembers the tough spot last year with “rood” — a word he’d never seen before and spelled incorrectly as “roude.” Still, he rolled with the loss.
“I knew my race was over when I heard the word, but I was satisfied with it,” he said. “I was looking to get to the quarterfinals — and I did — so I was happy and liked it.”
This year’s goal? “To do better than last year,” he said bluntly.
Love of Words — and More
Jayden gets no actual spelling lessons. Instead, he is encouraged by his reading interest and love for words.
“I don’t really have mind tricks when I get a word I don’t know,” he said. “I just like reading and memorizing words I get.”
When he is not training for the bee, Jayden keeps himself busy with a wide range of interests. He’s a big reader — adoring Harry Potter, The Week Junior, and kids’ encyclopedias. He also plays the violin, builds Legos, solves Rubik’s Cubes, plays Batman video games, hikes, does science experiments at home, tackles tough math problems, and plays with his little brother.
Jayden’s love for learning shines through everything that he does — and with his hard work and meticulous planning, he is poised to dominate the national stage for a second time.
