Florida homeschooler sets record for winning county spelling bee 3 years straight

Calabash can refer to a tropical tree or its fruit, a North Carolina town – or the word propelling Cooper Campen, a Florida homeschool student, to his third consecutive championship in the Alachua County Spelling Bee.

“Campen outlasted a strong field of student competitors from across Alachua County during an intense 38-round competition, securing the historic ‘three-peat’ victory by correctly spelling the final word, ‘calabash,’” the Alachua Chronicle wrote. 

This makes him the first student to win the contest three years in a row, journalists noted. 

“As the Alachua County champion, (Campen) will attend the 82nd Annual First Coast Regional Spelling Bee in Jacksonville on Friday, Feb. 27.” 

Whoever wins the Jacksonville event will qualify for the Scripps National Spelling Bee – which has already seen substantial representation from homeschoolers. 

Homeschool prowess triggers ‘certain sense of astonishment’ 

As previously reported by The Lion, homeschool students began participating in the early 1990s, increasing over the years to 36 contestants by 2006. 

By correctly spelling euonym, Rebecca Sealfon of New York became the first homeschooled student to win the national title in 1997. 

“In 2016, even though homeschool students made up just 2% of the school age population, they were more than 7.4% of the finalists,” observed a howtohomeschool.com article. 

Such disproportional representation has not gone unnoticed among the bee’s administrators, including then-director Paige Kimble. 

“I think there’s a certain sense of astonishment – and frankly, I think there’s also a sense of respect and jealousy,” she said. 

In 2023, Zaila Avant-garde from Louisiana became the first African-American contestant to win the bee, though the homeschooled student described herself primarily as an athlete, rather than a speller. 

“Spelling is just a side thing I do,” she explained. “My main thing is basketball.” 

Likewise, Campen also excels in activities outside the bee. 

“Cooper recently earned national recognition at the America 250 – The Great Debate National Civics & Debate Championship (January 2026), placing 4th Overall in the Middle School Division and winning 1st Place in Middle School Impromptu Speaking against more than 600 students from Florida and 14 other states,” the Alachua Chronicle observed. 

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, homeschooling has continued to expand nationwide across ethnic, socioeconomic and political boundaries. 

“While the pandemic sparked a surge in the number of households homeschooling their children, research shows that many families are choosing to keep homeschooling years on, driven in part by the desire to tailor their children’s education,” Newsweek wrote in a December article. 

While families cited different causes influencing their withdrawal from public education, “the most common reason cited was concern about the school environment, including safety, drug exposure, or negative peer pressure, with 83% of parents saying it was a factor.” 

Photo credit: Brad Campen