Emily Eckman wins spelling bee

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Neighbors | Submitted.Poland Middle School held its annual spelling bee Jan. 13. Eighth-grader Emily Eckman (left) won the event and will represent PMS at the 2010 Vindicator Spelling Bee held at YSU this March. Marissa Gray was the runner-up.

There were several tense and anxious moments as the eight nervous contestants competed in the annual Poland Middle School spelling bee the morning of Jan. 13.

Each had the desire to represent the school at the March Vindicator spelling bee where the winner qualifies for an all-expenses paid week at the national spelling bee in May in Washington D.C.

Allison Berend, Sarah Comstock, Mark Cooper, Emily Eckman, Nick Franceschelli, Marissa Gray and Max Prizant were the eighth-grade spell down qualifiers.

The first round resulted in five students misspelling words such as incisor and caterpillar. The second round reduced the field to just two highly competitive spellers, Emily Eckman and Marissa Gray.

They battled back and forth as they correctly spelled their words such as budget, celery and chapter, or both misspelled the same words such as bituminous and adjourn.

The runner up was Marissa Gray and the winner of the Poland Middle School spelling bee was Emily Eckman.

She will represent Poland Middle School at the 2010 Vindicator Spelling Bee held at Youngstown State University this March.