Pulaski County sudent wins Arkansas State Spelling Bee

LITTLE ROCK — Sara Chen of Pulaski County is the winner of the Electric Cooperatives of Arkansas sponsored 2025 Arkansas State Spelling Bee. The 12-year-old Pinnacle View Middle School student is the daughter of Hwa Soon Patrick and Chien Chen of Little Rock.
Chen won among of field of 55 students from across Arkansas that had won their respective county spelling bees. The state event was held at the Vines Center in Little Rock.
The runner-up for the state contest was Molly Isbell of Washington County. Placing third was Bryce Harris of Benton County, while fourth place went to Karthik Dalai of Sebastian County. Charles Yao of Faulkner County placed fifth.

Approximately 85,000 students from 414 schools in 55 counties across Arkansas participated in local and county contests leading up to the State Spelling Bee contest. Chen, the Arkansas winner, will proceed to The Scripps National Spelling Bee, the nation’s largest and longest-running educational program, celebrates its 100th year in May.
The purpose of the Scripps National Spelling Bee is to help students improve their spelling, increase their vocabularies, learn concepts and develop correct English usage that will help them throughout their lives.