Spelling Bee Held at SMS

Students Spell to 

Victory at SMS Spelling Bee 

7th and 8th graders were given spelling quizzes in their social studies classes. Based on their excellent scores on the spelling quizzes, twenty-one students competed in the Southern Middle School Spelling Bee.

We are very proud of the students who participated in the Spelling Bee.  They are as follows:

Olivia Benson

Emma Blazek-Hamulack

Tyler Burgess

Owen Comfort

Logan Criss

Jacob Delozier

Maria De Pastina

Mackenzie Dryden

George Ellis

Laura Gentry

Andrew Hetzer

David Koval

Madden Losey

Harrison Mabon

Stephen Mayoryk

Natalia Ramirez-Snell

Stephan Smith

Kaden Strassman

Ethan Thomas

Tanner Russell

Logan Winmond

By round seven, there were only five students still left in the Bee. They were Natalia Ramirez-Snell, George Ellis, David Koval, and Maria De Pastina. The students spelled difficult study words such as “vortices” and “absorptive”. In round seven, Natalia Ramirez-Snell, George Ellis, and Maria De Pastina all got their words incorrect, which meant that Koval and Dryden were left to battle it out for the chance to be the 1st place champion.

In order for a student to be the 1st place champion of the spelling bee, he/she has to spell a word correctly in the round when the other student(s) spell their words incorrectly. Then a championship round begins and he or she must spell an additional championship word correctly.  In round 10, David Koval spelled incorrectly the word “levees” and that allowed Mackenzie Dryden a chance to possibly win the championship. Dryden became the 1st place champion after she successfully spelled the championship word “carborane”. 

After the 1st place champion was announced there was a tie-breaker to see which additional two students would be able to advance to the Regional Qualifier at WITF. Since Natalia Ramirez-Snell, George Ellis, and Maria De Pastina all got out in round seven they needed to do a tie breaker to see who would place third and fourth. In the tie breaker both Ramirez-Snell and Ellis got their words correct while De Pastina was off by one letter on the word “commodore”. This meant that Ramirez-Snell and Ellis tied for 3rd place.

Mackenzie Dryden, an 8th grader, placed 1st and won an online Encyclopedia Brittanica. David Koval, an 8th grader, placed second. Natalia Ramirez-Snell and George Ellis tied for third place. All four champions of the Southern Middle School Spelling Bee have been invited to Harrisburg to further their spelling quest with a semi-final regional Spelling Bee with students from 10 counties from Central Pennsylvania. The semi-final regional spelling bee will be a paper and pencil test at WITF in Harrisburg on January 19, 2020.  The top spellers of this test will be in a televised Grand Championship Spelling Bee to be held on March 14, 2020.

During the Spelling Bee, Mrs. Newland was the coordinator and judge, Colin Baust-Crain was the pronouncer.  Zack Sharkey was the second judge, and Bea Angela Ricafort was the record-keeper.