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Hilltop crowns Mills Spelling Bee champ
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Neighbors | Abby Slanker.Hilltop Elementary School fourth-grade student DeeAnna Mills was crowned champion of the school’s annual Fourth-Grade Spelling Bee, with Mason DeBrosse placing second, on June 1.
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Neighbors | Abby Slanker.Twelve Hilltop Elementary School fourth-grade students put their spelling knowledge to the test as they participated in the school’s annual Fourth-Grade Spelling Bee on June 1.
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Neighbors | Abby Slanker.A fourth-grade student at Hilltop Elementary School took her turn at the microphone during the school’s annual Fourth-Grade Spelling Bee on June 1.
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 1. Three students from each of the four fourth-grade classrooms qualified for the grade-wide spelling bee by winning one of three classroom spelling bees.
Hilltop Elementary School Principal Joe Maroni was the announcer, with Monica Coliadis, Carrie Meranto and Carol Young serving as judges. Third- and fellow fourth-grade students, friends and family were also in attendance to support the spellers.
Maroni welcomed everyone in attendance and explained the Spelling Bee rules.
“Welcome parents, grandparents, friends and fellow Hilltop students to the Fourth-Grade Spelling Bee. We are happy to see you here to support our Spelling Bee participants,” Maroni said.
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 at the end of the 14th round, DeeAnna Mills and Mason DeBrosse.
For the last two spellers, the rules changed. Maroni 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 ‘ritziest,’ with DeBrosse misspelling it and Mills then spelling it correctly.
Maroni then reminded Mills she must spell the next word correctly to be crowned the winner. The word was ‘gainsay,’ which Mills spelled correctly and, as a result, she was crowned champion of the 2014-15 Hilltop Elementary School Fourth-Grade Spelling Bee.
“Congratulations to our champion, DeeAnna. And congratulations to all our contestants,” Maroni said.
DeBrosse was named second place winner, with Diana Starr named third place winner. Mills, DeBrosse and Starr each received a dictionary and a Barnes and Noble gift card, courtesy of Hilltop PTO.