Stoddert Students take 1st and 2nd Place at the Spelling Bee

Samer and Joel, victorious after round 2 of the Scripps Spelling Bee

After being out of school for over a week, Samer Chiaviello (the winner of the Stoddert Spelling Bee) and Joel Clark (the runner up) came to the Cluster II Bee ready to spell words. Clusters I–IV sent their winning representatives to the Cluster Level Bee. Each of the four Cluster Bees was held on different days this week. Stoddert’s Cluster II Bee was held Tuesday, February 16th at the Logan School auditorium. Samer’s mom and dad attended, as did Joel’s dad and sister. It was exciting when we found out that Joel—our second place winner at Stoddert—could also participate in the Cluster Bee.

Each student selected a card with a number on the reverse side. This number determined their spelling position in the bee. Samer had #4 (the lowest number selected and therefore the first to spell in each round—a little added pressure). Students from Leckie, Key, and Stoddert spelled one word from the Scripps Spelling List in each round. By the fouth round, four students remained. At the 8th round only Samer and Joel were left to battle it out for first and second place. Joel sat down on “agricultural” and Samer went on to spell the winning word (“scholarship”) in the 13th round.

We are all very proud to have both winners continue on to the the District-Wide Spelling Bee, which will be held on Saturday, March 20th at the WRC-TV Studios on Nebraska Avenue.

Submitted by Myrilyn Barr