SEBRING — The 2025 Sebring McKinley Junior High Spelling Bee champion is proud to represent the district for the second straight year at the 21-WFMJ Regional Spelling Bee Saturday at Stambaugh Auditorium.

Brenlee Armour, 14, already defended her title as the Sebring spelling bee champion, winning the right to represent the district this weekend in the process, an honor she takes seriously.

“(Representing the district) makes it more important to me because I know my actions can reflect on the school, so if I go there and am disrespectful that’s going to look bad on the school,” Brenlee said.

Brenlee said that she is “excited but also nervous” for Saturday, noting that being on stage in front of a crowd sometimes makes her nervous. She felt that those nerves were one of the major factors in her elimination from last year’s regional bee, but since then she has become more experienced and comfortable with being in front of a crowd through extracurricular activities, including band, participation in the school’s drama department and Academic Challenge.

“I had had to perform in front of people before, but it hadn’t been as often. This year I’ve gotten kind of used to it,” Brenlee said.

Brenlee also said that at the time of last year’s bee she was still acclimating to shifts in her schedule that made studying for the regional bee difficult — something that she feels she now has more firmly in hand.

“I think last year I just had a lot of other stuff going on that I was still adjusting to, so I wasn’t really prepared to focus on something else as well, whereas this year I have a better handle on my scheduling so it’s easier to set out the time to build study habits and do them,” she said.

The knowledge that all the competitors at the regional bee are fellow spelling bee champions and finalists is a common source of anxiety for spellers, but Brenlee said she knows she’ll be fine if she does her best.

“It makes me a little bit more nervous because I know these are all really good spellers, but it doesn’t affect me too much because I know if I try hard enough, it will all work out,” she said.

She said this year, she’s been studying more intensely and for longer periods than last year, and she sometimes receives help studying from her parents and Academic Challenge coach, who quiz her on the spelling list.

Brenlee also has been taking advantage of the Scripps National Spelling Bee Word Club app.

“I usually read all the way through the list first then go back and spell them all to myself out loud, and the app can quiz me on the words, and any I consistently miss I make sure to mark so I can go over them more,” she said about her strategy.

While Brenlee said there were no particular words she’s been struggling with during her preparations, she said words with double letters are sometimes difficult for her to remember. She also said knowing this is her last opportunity to win the regional spelling bee and potentially compete in the national bee has inspired her to study even harder. Students age out of the competition in eighth grade.

“It makes me want to try harder because I know it is my last attempt at winning, so I think I should make it my best attempt,” Brenlee said.

Beyond the goal of winning the regional bee, Brenlee said her personal goal is to complete the second round and advance further than she did last year.

“My main goal is that I want to get past the second round because that’s where I got out last year and I want to make sure I do better this year.”.

Brenlee said if she wins the regional bee, she plans to celebrate by getting dinner with her family at Chick-Fil-A.

The Regional Bee encompasses approximately 70 spellers from Mahoning and Trumbull counties, according to organizer Nena Perkins.