A home-schooler and a student from Amphitheater Public Schools will represent Tucson in the 2009 Arizona Spelling Bee on Saturday.
Both are in the eighth grade. Evan Mayer, 14, goes to Cross Middle School and Jim Denker, 13, is taught at home.
They are among 27 spellers from the state to vie at Arizona State University for a chance to compete in the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C., from May 22-24.
The event, sponsored by the Arizona Educational Foundation and US Airways, begins at 1 p.m. at ASU’s Stauffer Hall in the Studios of Eight, Arizona PBS.
The Arizona winner gets $500, a free trip for two to nationals, a Webster’s Third New International Dictionary, a $100 savings bond and The Great Books of the Western World, a 60-volume set from Harrison Middleton University.