3 Secaucus Students Compete In 2025 Hudson County Spelling Bee

SECAUCUS, NJ — Last Saturday, Hudson County held the annual Scripps National Spelling Bee. For the third year in a row, the spelling bee was held at High Tech High School, at Laurel Hill Park in Secaucus.

A total of 76 Hudson County students, in grades third through eighth, competed, including three children from Secaucus. All the kids had to win spelling competitions in their individual schools to qualify to compete in the county-wide spelling bee. The Secaucus kids are:

• Eric Francis — Clarendon Elementary School, Secaucus (eliminated in the sixth round)
• Vidhan Dangol — Huber Street Elementary School, Secaucus (eliminated in the fourth round)
• Aryan Bansal — Secaucus Middle School, Secaucus (eliminated in the fourth round)

The winner of this year's spelling bee is Ishaan Gupta, an 11-year-old sixth grader from Jersey City. He won in the seventh round by spelling the word "guan" correctly. A guan is a bird that lives in the South American rain forest.

Gupta will go on to represent Hudson County in Maryland later this year.

Marina Saad, 14 and in the eighth grade in Bayonne, came in second place and Jasmine Dalmas, 10 and in the fifth grade in Jersey City, came in third place.

Here are all 76 Hudson County children who participated in the 2025 Spelling Bee, listed with their schools:

Anish Shama — Academy 1 Middle School, Jersey City (RANK 4th Round)

Emily Fekry — Alexander Sullivan Elementary School 30, Jersey City (RANK 4th Round)

Anuja Nere — Alfred Zampella Elementary School 27, Jersey City (RANK 4th Round)

Eesha Samala — All Saints Episcopal Day School, Hoboken (RANK 6th Round)

Dylan Valdez — Anna L Klein Elementary School, Guttenberg (RANK 6th Round)

Atharva Sharma — Beloved Community Charter School, Jersey City (RANK 4th Round)

Jasmine Dalmas — Chaplin Watters Elementary School 24, Jersey City (RANK 3rd Place)

Neelesh Sudar Kannan — Charles Trefurt School 8, Jersey City (RANK 5th Round)

Jack Brenes — Christa McAuliffe School 28, Jersey City (RANK 4th Round)

Eric Francis — Clarendon Elementary School, Secaucus (RANK 6th Round)

Kavya Jatkar — Cornelia Bradford Elementary School 16, Jersey City (RANK 6th Round)

Ivette Garcia — Dr C DeFuccio Elementary School 39, Jersey City (RANK 6th Round)

William Exiokwu — Dr Maya Angelou PS 20, Jersey City (RANK 6th Round)

Hamza Ali — Dr Michael Conti Elementary School 5, Jersey City (RANK 4th Round)

Austin Dingle — Dr Paul Rafalides PS 33, Jersey City (RANK 7th Round)

Annalise Sosa — Dr Walter F Robinson School, Bayonne (RANK 6th Round)

Devasenaa Venkatesan — Empowerment Academy Charter School, Jersey City (RANK 6th Round)

Annabelle White — Explore 2000 Middle School, Jersey City (RANK 6th Round)

Jeremy Quiles — Ezra Nolan Middle School 40, Jersey City (RANK 7th Round)

Varun Ramasubramanian — Elysian Charter School, Hoboken (RANK 4th Round)

Ishaan Gupta — Frank Conwell Middle School 4, Jersey City (RANK 1st Place)

Sophia Naom — Frank R Conwell Elementary School 3, Jersey City (RANK 6th Round)

Harshini Putta — Franklin L Williams Middle School 7, Jersey City (RANK 7th Round)

Ramatoulaya Keita — Gladys Cannon Nunery School 29, Jersey City (RANK 6th Round)

Joaquin Llanos — Henry E Harris Elementary School, Bayonne (RANK 6th Round)

Arthur Kennedy — Hoboken Charter School, Hoboken (RANK 6th Round)

Logan Power — Hoboken Middle School, Hoboken (RANK 4th Round)

Bahaedine Khelaifi — Horace Mann School, Bayonne (RANK 6th Round)

Vidhan Dangol — Huber Street Elementary School, Secaucus (RANK 4th
Round)

Jaylynn Rivera — Hudson – ASCS Middle School, Kearny (RANK 7th Round)

Anvi Gupta — Hudson Montessori School, Jersey City (RANK 6th Round)

Samarth Brahma — Hoboken Catholic Academy, Hoboken (RANK 4th Round)

Srivallabha Konduru — Infinity Institute, Jersey City (RANK 4th Round)

McKensey Martin — James Murray Elementary School 38, Jersey City (RANK 7th Round)

Siena Camion — Jefferson Elementary School, Union City (RANK 6th Round)

Sidra Ahmad — Jersey City Global Charter School, Jersey City (RANK 6th Round)

Gurshaan Randhawa — Jersey City Golden Door Charter School, Jersey City (RANK 6th Round)

Isaiah Kassi — John M Bailey School, Bayonne (RANK 4th Round)

Aleyna Traore — Joseph F Brandt Elementary School, Hoboken (RANK 6th Round)

Kriti Kattamuri — Jotham W Wakeman School 6, Jersey City (RANK 7th Round)

Ny’Layia Ransom — Julia A Barnes Elementary School 12, Jersey City (RANK 7th Round)

Freyja Maru — Learning Community Charter School, Jersey City (RANK 7th Round)

Noah Johnson — Lincoln Community School, Bayonne (RANK 5th Round)

Wilkins Rojas — Lincoln Middle School, Kearny (RANK 6th Round)

Rimah Assaggoum — Mahatma Gandhi Elementary School 23, Jersey City (RANK 4th Round)

Mohammed Raoudi — Martin L King Junior Elementary School 11, Jersey City (RANK 7th Round)

Zain Abdelmonem — Miftaahul Uloom Academy, Union City (RANK 7th Round)

Samantha Choi — Nicholas Oresko School, Bayonne (RANK 4th Round)

Dishari Das — Nicolaus Copernicus School 25, Jersey City (RANK 5th Round)

Akshita Singh — Our Lady of Czestochowa School, Jersey City (RANK 4th Round)

Darsh Gohil — Patricia Noonan School PS 26, Jersey City (RANK 7th Round)

Marina Saad — Philip G Vroom School, Bayonne (RANK 2nd Place)

Luciana Latilla — Public School #2, West New York (RANK 6th Round)

Amarii Briggs — President Barack Obama Community School, Jersey City (RANK 7th Round)

Kathryn Guerra — Public School #5, West New York (RANK 6th Round)

Aarav Jain — Rafael Cordero Y Molina Elementary School, Jersey City (RANK 5th Round)

Deshawn Silva — Rev Dr Ercel F Webb School 22, Jersey City (RANK 7th Round)

Ali Gebai — Rising Star Academy, Union City (RANK 7th Round)

Ryan Fernandez — Sara M Gilmore Academy, Union City (RANK 6th Round)

Aryan Bansal — Secaucus Middle School, Secaucus (RANK 4th Round)

Jodi Domantay — Soaring Heights Charter School, Jersey City (RANK 6th Round)

Thea Ordonez — Saint Francis Academy, Union City (RANK 6th Round)

Margarita (MAX) Kosygim — Theodore Roosevelt Elementary School 5, Weehawken (RANK 4th Round)

Sohum Dixit — Thomas G Connors Elementary School, Hoboken (RANK 6th Round)

Grace McMullan — Wallace Elementary School, Hoboken (RANK 6th Round)

Lluan Magpali — Washington Community School, Bayonne (RANK 5th Round)

Aliyah Rodriguez — Whitney M Young Junior Elementary School 15, Jersey City (RANK 7th Round)

Maxine Rivera — Woodrow Wilson School, Bayonne (RANK 6th Round)

Niki Kambam — World of ABC The Waldo School, Jersey City (RANK 6th Round)

Lucas Zhang — Washington Middle School, Harrison (RANK 7th Round)

"Congratulations to Ishaan Gupta for being this year’s Hudson County Spelling Bee champion," said Hudson County Executive Craig Guy. "Hudson County is confident that you will represent us amazingly at the Scripps National Spelling Bee later this year — we wish you the best of luck!”