Looks familiar

Looks familiar

First- through third-place winners in The Vindicator 79th Regional Spelling Bee came from the same schools as the contestants who won first through third place last year.

Max Lee from Canfield Village Middle School took home the grand champion trophy Saturday. He was last year’s runner-up behind champion Lauren Ritz from Willow Creek Learning Center in Boardman.

Tamsin Day, a seventh-grader from Willow Creek, was this year’s runner-up. Megan Winters, an eighth-grader from West Branch Middle School, took third place both years.

Young competitors

This year’s bee included three second-graders: Bronx Teague, from Akiva Academy, who competed last year as a first-grader; Mia Bordonaro from Ohio Virtual Academy and Elisha Hudson from Williamson Elementary School. Bronx was one of the top six spellers. He misspelled “tarragon” in the seventh round.

Volunteers

Fred Owens, a professor in the communication and theatre department at Youngstown State University, served as pronouncer for the bee. Judges were the Rev. Dr. Lewis Macklin of Holy Trinity Missionary Baptist Church; Leslie Kiske, a retired educator from Boardman School District and a teacher of Adult Basic Education at The English Center; and Margie Rodriguez, a counselor at East High School.

The Voluntary Advisory Board includes Nancy Haraburda, Olga Kragel, Hannah Gerdes, Sheila McIntyre, Tim Roberts, Carol Ryan and John Rozzo.

Lauren Johnson, Ashley Macklin, Julia Miglets and John Umble were the youth volunteers, and Richard Hahn was sound specialist. Nena Perkins of The Vindicator is the spelling bee coordinator.

Bee on TV

Highlights from the bee will air from 5 to 6 p.m. March 31 and from 4 to 5 p.m. April 1 on WBCB.

Winners’ prizes

Grand champion Max Lee from Canfield Village Middle School received a trophy from The Vindicator. The newspaper also will underwrite an all-expense-paid trip, including hotel, travel, tours, meals and incidental expenses, to Washington, D.C., for Max and one of his parents to the 84th Scripps National Spelling Bee Week May 27 through June 1.

He also got a grand champion certificate, a $100 savings bond from Rotary Club of Youngstown, which will be presented at a May luncheon; a $150 Barnes and Noble gift card from the Downtown Kiwanis, which also will be presented at a luncheon.

A copy of “These Hundred Years — A Chronicle of the Twentieth Century,” compliments of The Vindicator; a $50 savings bond from Jay Sugarman in honor of his father; Webster’s Third New International Dictionary and a one-year subscription to Merriam-Webster’s Unabridged online; a one-year subscription for a Britannica Online Student Edition from Encyclopedia Britannica; and a floral arrangement provided by Burkland Flowers of Youngstown complete Max’s prize package.

The runner-up and third-place winner also receive trophies, certificates, gift cards, books, dictionaries and online subscriptions.