“Angelika, your word is onion,” School Street Elementary School teacher Matthew Franz said to spelling bee competitor Angelika Maletto during Thursday’s annual competition.
Maletto, who spelled the word correctly, was among 34 fourth- and fifth-grade students who competed in the Scripps National Spelling Bee competition which will name one of two finalists as the winner of the event today. The national event, held since 1925, will have 11 million students participate this year with hopes of making it to the Washington, D.C. competition.
“We have two dynamic finalists … Michael Butler and Zoe Randall-Klouw,” Principal Sarah Tingley said following the school competition. “We had to stop at 3:30 so students could get ready for dismissal.”
Tingley said students participated in the event after winning smaller spelling bees in their homerooms. Two winners from each homeroom participated in the larger gymnasium event in front of their peers, teachers and parents. Event organizer was Tammy Dittman, elementary enrichment teacher.
“The winner of this will compete at Robert Morris University in Pittsburgh on March 11 for the Western Pennsylvania Championship” against other fourth- to eighth-grade students, Tingley explained. “The PTO pays for (the student and his or her family) to spend a night in a hotel and helps them pay for gas.”
Tingley said the Western Pennsylvania champion will then compete for the Pennsylvania championship, with the winner of that moving up to the national championship.
She said the school competition has been held the past eight years primarily to help the students practice their skills in public speaking as well as poise and composure in large groups.
Tingley said the competition is also designed to motivate the students to delve into the study of words and word origins.
“It’s a confidence builder for the students and helps them celebrate in another way,” Tingley continued. “I think part of the reason we do it is for nostalgic purposes. Who doesn’t remember competing in a spelling bee.”
The principal said she was pleased to see the contestants and audience members cheering for all students.
“ It was a very supportive atmosphere,” she said. “At times it was tense as some students struggled to spell some words.”
Fifth-grade teacher, Keri Baldwin, said students in her class and others look forward to the competition following the holidays.
“They get the list (of words) early, a lot of them take a hold of it and study at home,” Baldwin noted. “It was the kids’ idea today to make posters and root for their classmates. It’s nice to see them get excited about something academic” in addition to sports.
Baldwin said a number of parents have also shown support for the program, and took time to stop by for the mid-afternoon event. She said the school also conducts a geography bee and Math 24 competition during the school year.
“It kind of hits all different areas of interest” among the students, Baldwin said of school competitions.
