Self-Driven Study Leads Hamilton Student to Spelling Bee Title

For Casey Barnhill, an eighth grade student at Velma Hamilton Middle School, the road to winning the Madison All-City Spelling Bee title was paved with persistence.

After a second-place finish a year ago, Barnhill took the crown in 2026 after correctly spelling “Ecuador.” 

“It was the easiest word I had to spell during the competition,” he laughed.

The victory is the product of Barnhill’s own initiative and hard work. Despite being an advanced learner in English Language Arts and Spanish, the bulk of his preparation happened outside the classroom, squeezing in study sessions between soccer practice and homework.

“I had a lot of support from my teachers and family, but I did almost all the work on my own time at home,” Barnhill said. “I would take the word list they gave us, spell every word and then quiz myself on the words that I got wrong.”

That self-driven study habit was essential — while some words like Ecuador were straightforward, others required a deep dive into linguistics, as the competition often includes words with non-English origins.

"If it’s a French word, I’ll look up the pronunciation because a lot of times it sounds a lot different than how it’s spelled," he explained. “So I was basically building a dictionary in my head.”

Barnhill said one of his strengths is his memory, and that his internal dictionary has been gaining entries for years. That makes preparing for competition easier, because he can easily spot words he isn’t as familiar with and needs to study more.

Barnhill’s teachers at Hamilton aren't surprised by his success or discipline. Maria Brown, his Spanish and advisory teacher, said his dedication to learning makes him a leader in the school.

“He’s very skilled in all sorts of ways and just a pleasure to have in class,” Brown said. “He has lots of friends in advisory and all around the school — he’s really a positive influence on all our students.”

To Principal James Kamoku, Barnhill is a student that perfectly represents Hamilton.

“There’s so many great things that Casey does outside of just being the Spelling Bee Champion,” Kamoku said. “He’s very personable, he always has a smile on his face — which is a testament to his family, the staff here and the experience he’s had at Hamilton.”

After winning the All-City Spelling Bee, Barnhill moved on to the state competition to challenge the best spellers in Wisconsin, and placed fourth overall.

Looking back on his run to state, Barnhill said picking his favorite moment is easy.

“I can’t really think of a lot of moments that stick out when I was on-stage spelling,” he said. “But after getting second place last year, it definitely felt good to hold the trophy.”