Baylor Towne of Onemo, daughter of Jan and Shawn Towne, will attend the Scripps National Spelling Bee for the second consecutive year.

A homeschooled student representing H.E.A.R.T. of Williamsburg, Towne won the Tidewater Spelling Bee, held at the Hampton Roads Convention Center on Saturday. Her winning word, the 80th called, was Samaritan.

She competed with 20 other spellers from throughout the region, including Thomas Hunter Middle School student Caleb Selph, who finished second. Selph qualified for the regional bee last September by winning a student spelling bee sponsored by Adult Literacy on the Middle Peninsula, Inc.
Towne and Selph outlasted all other competitors by many rounds, according to ALMP manager Rhoda-Jo Stress. All the other participants had fallen by the fifth round, she said.

Veronica Davis, organizer of the bee, said the Mathews students "were very well prepared, and when you are talking about the regional level, that is what it takes."

Towne ...