Kingsley Elementary School recently held its annual spelling bee. Some 80 third, fourth, and fifth grade students participated in this competition.
Words derived from Spanish and Italian proved challenging for most. Sixteen students proceeded to round five. By the competition’s end, fifth grader Nathan Umbanhower ranked as the top speller, going 15 rounds and spelling suffice and column correctly.
This marks the second first-place win for Nathan who captured first place in last year’s spelling bee against Bessie Rhodes. Second place winner was fifth grader Daniel DeLara. Third place went to Zachary Smith (also fifth grade). Fourth place went to Sofia Cisneros (fourth grade) and fifth place to Julia Freeman (fifth grade).
Other top spellers were: Darya Geary (fourth grade) and Charlie Evans (also fourth) placed seventh.
Sam Doyle, Mark Roth, and Amy Aaronson-Levine (all fifth graders) tied for eighth place.
Fourth graders Emma Rosinski, Henry Honzel, Tambria Jones, and fifth graders Madeline Byrne, Hannah Chamberlain, and Aidan Walsh rounded out the top 16 placements.
A total of 135 words were spelled in the 2008 Kingsley Spelling Bee. Fifth grade teacher Jason Ewing served as the spelling bee’s master of ceremonies.