Wickey Wins Spelling Bee Championship at
Washington School
An exciting afternoon played out on the Washington Primary School stage last week as second graders vied in the 2010 spelling bee contest. In the end, Anna Wickey was crowned champion after she correctly spelled the word “business.”
The contest serves to highlight reading, grammar and spelling and heightened the interest of students in each of these areas. The annual competition was created by teacher Tim Pillion, who presided over the finals for three years. With Mr. Pillion now working at Woodhull School, Washington reading teacher Jeffrey Dicker assumed Mr. Pillion’s duties.
Students qualified for last week’s finals through earlier rounds conducted in their respective classrooms. With their classmates watching, the 20 finalists sat on chairs on the school stage until their name was called. When it was their turn, contestants stood at a lectern as Mr. Dicker called out this year’s words.
Every finalist was on their respective game early on as they all advanced through the Level I words and 18 of 20 made it through the next round, too. The battle continued for nearly one hour.
Tension mounted as contestants finally started to fall. Jose Suarez was the last boy standing, finishing in fourth place. Ms. Wickey, a student in teacher Patricia Maltempo’s class, Grace Tyrrell from teacher Joan Marie Balsari’s class and Brittney Brusca from teacher Suzanne Dinehart’s class battled to the end before Ms. Wickey clinched the victory. “Squeals of joy and laughter could be heard all around the school,” Mrs. Maltempo said.
Ryan Hoffman won last year’s title when he correctly spelled the word “pasture.” Current fourth grader Nicholas Inman won the spelling bee crown in 2008 when he spelled out “eclipse.” In 2007, Sarah James took top honors after she accurately spelled “giraffe.” Students look forward to the event in the weeks leading up to it.
Ms. Wickey’s name will be engraved on a plaque that already contains the names of Messrs. Inman and Hoffman and Ms. James. It is affixed to a wall in the main lobby of the school.
“Fun and learning are truly a wonderful mix at Washington Primary School” Principal Marsha Neville said.
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