Spell e-d-u-c-a-t-i-o-n: Each spelling bee participant receives new Surface, Office 365 and Skype gift card

Yan Zhong, Skype program manager at Microsoft, far left, when she competed in the national spelling bee during her middle school years.

Each of the 281 participants in the 2014 Scripps National Spelling Bee got an extra boost from Microsoft Tuesday night to help them with their education, and to make sure the bonds they create with other competitors around the world can continue.

The spellers, who range in age from 8 to 15, each received a brand new Surface device and Office 365. They also got a Skype gift card that can be used with the Skype app on their new Surface devices. “That way, everyone will be able to maintain the new friendships they’ve formed, no matter where their friends are located around the globe,” writes Yan Zhong, Skype program manager at Microsoft. Zhong was a spelling bee competitor in the late 1990s, when she was in middle school.

Microsoft is sponsoring the event as the first-ever technology champion. To read more, head over to the Microsoft in Education blog.

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Suzanne Choney
Microsoft News Center Staff