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Hilltop crowns fourth-grade spelling champion
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Neighbors | Abby Slanker.Kareena Joshi (middle) was crowned Hilltop Elementary School’s fourth-grade 2012-2013 Spelling Bee champ, while Marissa Ieraci (left) was named second-place winner and Brenna Brocker (right) was named third-place winner June 3.
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Neighbors | Abby Slanker.Twelve fourth-grade Hilltop Elementary School students participated in the school’s annual Spelling Bee June 3.
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Neighbors | Abby Slanker.A fourth-grade student at Hilltop Elementary School took his turn at the microphone during the school’s annual Spelling Bee June 3.
By ABBY SLANKER
Twelve Hilltop Elementary School fourth-grade students put their spelling knowledge to the test as they participated in the school’s annual Spelling Bee June 3. Three students from each of the four classrooms qualified for the grade-wide spelling bee by winning one of three classroom spelling bees offered throughout the school year.
Hilltop Elementary School Principal Cathy Mowry was the announcer, with Diane Dankovich, Mary Maxin, Monica Coliadis and Carrie Meranto serving as judges. Third- and fellow fourth-grade students, friends and family were also in attendance to support the spellers.
The students competed for several rounds, with the words getting more difficult as the students moved through the rounds, until it came down to the final two spellers in the eighth round, Kareena Joshi and Marissa Ieraci.
For the last two spellers, the rules changed. Mowry would say the word and use the word in a sentence. The contestant must then spell the word correctly to move on. If the word was misspelled, the other contestant must spell that word correctly and then spell a new word correctly to win the Spelling Bee.
The final round came down to the word ‘pamphlets,’ with Ieraci misspelling it and Joshi then spelling it correctly. Mowry reminded Joshi that she must spell the next word correctly to be crowned the winner. The word was ‘mischief,’ which Joshi spelled correctly, consequently crowning her champion of the 2012-13 Spelling Bee.
“Congratulations, Kareena. You did a great job here today, as did all our contestants,” Mowry said.
Ieraci was named second-place winner, with Brenna Brocker named third-place winner. Joshi, Ieraci and Brocker each received a dictionary and a Barnes and Noble gift card, courtesy of Hilltop PTO.
With the competition at a close, Mowry asked the participants and their fellow fourth-graders and the third-grade students what they thought was the best way to be a great speller and learn new words. Several students spoke up by saying, “practice and study” and “look up words in the dictionary.” The students all agreed the best way to learn new words was to read a book, much to the delight of Mowry.