More than 85 students competed in this year’s Brady Middle School annual Spelling Bee held at the school on January 30, 2026. After 10 rounds, eighth grader Elizabeth Zaraa (pictured, center) was the top speller with the education-appropriate word “curriculum.” Zaraa will represent BMS in an online “spell-off” to qualify for the County Spelling Bee. That 50-question test format includes 25 spelling questions and 25 vocabulary words. Top finishers move forward to the Regional Contest, which sends the top finisher to the National Spelling Bee in Washington, DC.

Eighth grader Ava Mukhopadhyay finished in second place with a tie for third place by Ariya Van Epps and Charly Garten. In seventh grade, Cinyi Zhang (pictured, right) finished in first place with the word “austerity”, followed by Hadi Navadeh and Mila Mukhopadhyay, who tied for second place. And in the sixth grade, first place went to Abram Thomas (pictured, left) for “diphtheria” with second place going to Aviva Konstantinovsky, and third place to Melina Serletis. The Orange Elementary PTA awarded prizes to all the winners.