For the first time, WJPS hosted the school segment of the nationwide Scripps spelling bee for middle school students.
“You know it’s awesome, it came from a student idea that Ms. Paplow had sent me and I helped to make it a reality for the school,” stated WJPS assistant principal, Mr. Petrotta.
The spelling bee takes three students from each middle school grade and they compete to determine who ends up going into the next level of the competition, which is the district spelling bee at JHS 194.
WJPS seventh grader Lily Primachenko expressed how she felt about the competition against her peers, “It feels very good to compete today. I beat 30 students in the class competition and I have confidence to win the entire thing and move on.”
The winners of the Scripps Spelling bee were sixth grader Sophia DiBartolo, seventh grader Dorell Alexander, and eighth grader Rhys Ott.
The winners of the competition will now be heading to the district spelling bee.
If any students can make it to nationals this spring, they could potentially win first place, which holds a prize of $50,000.
