The third time was the charm for Carpenter School fifth grade student Charlie Warner, who took top honors at Park Ridge-Niles School District 64’s 2019 District-wide Spelling Bee conducted on February 1 at Roosevelt School's auditorium. Lasting 15 rounds, Warner emerged the victor with the championship word "hundredth." It was his third year competing in the Bee.
Warner moves to local competition at the North Cook Regional Spelling Bee on Tuesday, February 5 at Joseph Sears School in Kenilworth.
"We had several returning spellers for this year's District Bee, and their level of preparation was obvious as they spelled with confidence!" according to Bee coordinator Meghan Keefer, District 64 Language Arts curriculum specialist.
Two students tied for second place: Annabelle Izzi, a Franklin School fifth grader, and Nathan Kapetanou, a sixth grade student at Emerson Middle School. Franklin fourth grader Shane Condon finished fourth while Luke Compton, a Washington fifth grade student, placed fifth in the event.
The District Bee included both spelling and vocabulary rounds. District Bee judges were teachers Shirlee Pater, Kim Kaniecki and Cheryl Williams. The pronouncer was speech pathologist Nancy Jensen.
Although the District Bee was rescheduled twice due to school closures for severe weather, all 21 school winners were able to attend!
Overall, 141 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.
The school winners included: Carpenter School - joining Bee winner Warner were George Lamplota, grade 3, and Erin Pedersen, grade 4; Emerson Middle School - second place Bee winner Kapetanou, Aki Stanojevic and Matthew Herdzic, all grade 6; Field School - Sam Hill, Haley Woodruff and Dorian Terbaci, all grade 5; Franklin School - fourth place Bee finisher Condon, grade 4, second place Bee winner Izzi, grade 5, and Abigail Izzi, grade 3; Lincoln Middle School - Natalie Henderson, Abdullah Khaden and Elias Kallen, all grade 6; Roosevelt School - Ellie Reuhs, grade 4, Andreas Malamis, grade 5, and Traver Cremins, grade 3; and Washington School - fifth place Bee winner Compton, grade 5, Everett Falconer, grade 3, and Patrick Cassidy, grade 5.
PHOTO: District 64 Spelling Bee champion Carpenter School fifth grade student Charlie Warner (center) is flanked by (left) Annabelle Izzi, a Franklin School fifth grader, and Nathan Kapetanou (right), a sixth grade student at Emerson Middle School, who tied for second.
