A pair of Franklin School grade 5 students captured first and second place this year at Park Ridge-Niles School District 64’s annual District-wide Spelling Bee held January 29 at Washington School’s auditorium.
Emerging on top was Aki Stanojevic, while his schoolmate Nathan Kapetanou, took second. Stanojevic spelled "bandit" as his championship word to secure the win after round 11 of the Bee.
During the eighth round, a three-way tie for third place emerged as the top two students spelled “coppice” and “verdigris” correctly. The third place finishers were: Nathan Brozell, Emerson Middle School, grade 8; Emma Baumann, Washington School, grade 3; and Charlie Warner, Carpenter School, grade 4.
Stanojevic moves to local competition at the North Cook Regional Spelling Bee on Tuesday, February 6 at Joseph Sears School in Kenilworth, according to Bee coordinator Meghan Keefer, District 64 Language Arts curriculum specialist.
The District Bee included both spelling and vocabulary rounds. District Bee judges were teachers Sue Douglass and Shirlee Pater along with Sandy Blethen, Gifted curriculum specialist/District program facilitator. The pronouncer was speech pathologist Nancy Jensen.
Overall, 205 students participated in the school bees, which are offered as an extracurricular activity for students in grades 3-8. Spelling bees were held at all seven schools earlier in January, with the top three spellers from each school earning an invitation to the District competition. Due to illness, an alternate also competed this year.
The school winners included: Carpenter School - Dominic Conversa, grade 3; Charlie Warner and Amelia Aguila, grade 4; Emerson Middle School - Anna Tinaglia, Mia Parangalan and Nathan Brozell, all grade 8; Field School - Caitlyn Button and Milani Mathis, both grade 5, and Haley Woodruff, grade 4; Franklin School - Nathan Kapetanou and Aki Stanojevic, both grade 5; and Kendall Bai, grade 4; Lincoln Middle School - Tommy Devlin, grade 7, Carsten Bridges, grade 8, and Ella Sieburg, grade 6; Roosevelt School - Thomas Hurley and Elias Kallen, both grade 5, Riyad Abukhalaf, grade 3, and alternate Sam Higgins, grade 4, who competed in place of Hurley; and Washington School - Emma Baumann and Warda Rizwan, both grade 3, and Luke Compton, grade 4.
PHOTO: District 64 Spelling Bee 2018 third place finishers (from left) Nathan Brozell, Emerson Middle School grade 8, Emma Baumann, Washington School grade 3, and Charlie Warner, Carpenter School grade 4, congratulate winner Aki Stanojevic (second from right), Franklin School grade 5. Second place finisher Nathan Kapetanou, Franklin School grade 5, is at far right.
