LINCOLN - After several nail-biting rounds, St. Margaret School's eighth grader Penelope Sargeant reigned victorious after spelling the word “telegnosis” and winning word “interpellate” correctly.
Sargeant, who is the daughter of Christine and Greg Sargeant, will move on to Washington, D.C., to compete in the Scripps National Spelling Bee in May and represent the state.
The State Spelling Bee, sponsored annually by The Valley Breeze , is in its 15th year at Lincoln Middle School. The Breeze’s publisher Jamie Quinn served as this year's coordinator, along with WPRI-TV's Kim Kalunian as the official pronouncer.
2023's Chief Judge was Dr. Donna Morelle, former Cumberland Superintendent of Schools, and other judges included Martha Correia from Navigant Credit Union, and Leigh Martin who is a Professor of English at the Community College of Rhode Island.
19 students throughout the state participated this year and took the stage at 10 a.m. on Saturday, March 18. Participating students from northern Rhode Island included James MacDonald from Ricci Middle School in North Providence; Ethan Abreu from Lincoln Middle School; Andres Puerta from Central Falls, attending Blackstone Valley Prep; Elenice Zambotto Pupo of Vincent J. Gallagher Middle School in Smithfield; Elliana Pagliarini of Foster, attending Hope Elementary School; and Savannah Gustafson from North Smithfield Elementary School.
The spellers went through 11 rounds with two to three of them eliminated each round. By the 11th round, there were only three spellers left including Sergeant, Ananya Thakkar from Wheeler School and Audrey Sarit from Highland Charter Schools, who put up a good competition, going multiple rounds before Sergeant spelled “telegnosis” and “interpellate” correctly.
Sargeant's mother told The Breeze that she had been studying hard for this, and that Sargeant's mother had herself been a reader since the age of four. Her grandmother, who recently passed away, was also a librarian.
Denise Zavota, a teacher at St. Margaret’s School, who sponsored the school’s bee, was present to support Sargeant on Saturday and said that the win was well deserved, with Sargeant winning her school’s bee every year since fourth grade.
Sargeant joked that she was planning on going on a school trip in May around the same time as the Scripps Spelling Bee, so now that she will be competing there, it’ll be an excuse to extend her trip.
PROVIDENCE – Seoyon Kim is Rhode Island’s top speller.
The Wheeler School 8th grader out-spelled the competition during last Friday’s Rhode Island State Spelling Bee, sponsored by The Valley Breeze.
Kim went for eight rounds in the bee, which was held virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Her victory secured her a place in the Scripps National Spelling Bee.
Kim said she’s nervous for the national bee, “... but I’m excited to represent Rhode Island. I’ll do my best.”
The competition’s youngest competitor, 4th-grader Laura Costello of Winsor Elementary School in Smithfield, was the runner-up.
Other participants in this year’s local competition were Lincoln Middle School 6th-grader Ethan Abreu; Max Ramirez, an 8th-grader at Birchwood Middle School in North Providence; Maiya Robert, a 7th-grader at Deering Middle School in West Warwick; and Daniel Piampiano, a 7th-grader at Scituate Middle School.
Due to the virtual setting, students were asked to keep their hands visible as they spelled, and to take a pledge of integrity promising not to give or receive help during the bee.
Judges for the competition were former Cumberland Superintendent of Schools Donna Morelle, Martha Correia, of Navigant Credit Union, and Leigh Martin, an English professor at the Community College of Rhode Island. Kim Kalunian, reporter and anchor at WPRI, served as pronouncer.
All five spellers moved through the first round with ease, but Lincoln’s Abreu was eliminated in the following round when he mixed up the placement of the letter “u” in the word restaurant.
The competition was tight in rounds three and four, with each of the remaining spellers hanging on to move into the fifth, which proved to be more challenging.
Before the start of the bee, Ramirez of North Providence asked whether spellers could go back if they made a mistake. For example, he asked if he began to spell the word “diamond” as “D-A-I,” could he then retrace his steps. The answer was no.
Unfortunately, Ramirez made that mistake in round five, realizing almost immediately that he had. Given the word “thunderbolt,” he spelled “THU-D” before saying “N! N!” and finishing the word.
Morelle requested a breakout room to confer with the judges, leaving the main Zoom room in silence as spellers and their supporters awaited word back. When they returned, Morelle said typically they err on the side of the speller, “but unfortunately that spelling was incorrect due to the rule that the order of spelling cannot be changed.”
During the same round, Piampiano misspelled the word “vault,” bringing the competition down to three remaining students.
Before the next round, an announcement was made that they’d be switching over to a new section of words, which students had not been given the opportunity to study before the competition.
In the sixth round, Robert correctly spelled “calico,” Costello the word “butterscotch,” and Kim the word “eternity.”
During the seventh round, Robert tripped up over the word “chard,” adding an extra “r.” With 4th-grader Costello correctly spelling “pollen” and 8th-grader Kim correctly spelling “tinderbox,” the bee was down to two.
Costello, in round eight, misspelled the word “feral.” Next up, Kim aced the spelling of “trilogy.”
Kim was given the championship word “bout,” which she also nailed, securing her spot as the first-place winner in this year’s R.I. State Spelling Bee. Runner-up Costello will serve as a backup should Kim be unable to participate in the national bee that she has qualified for.
After the competition, Kim told The Breeze, “It felt a little strange to do the Spelling Bee virtually, but I’m really happy about how it turned out. I did better than I thought I would. I tried the Spelling Bee last year as well, but I did much better this year.”
Breeze Editor Ethan Shorey, moderator of the competition, congratulated Kim and wished her well in the national competition.
This is the newspaper’s 15th year supporting the competition, which makes it possible for area spellers to advance to the National Spelling Bee. Sponsors for the bee were Navigant Credit Union, Anchor Subaru/Nissan, Hunter Insurance and Dave’s Market.
of Lincoln, makes it to final 3
March 11, 2017
BRITTANY BALLANTYNE
Valley Breeze Staff Writer
brittany@valleybreeze.com
LINCOLN – Despite stumbling on the word “motley,” Amelia Edelsberg of Providence, a 7th-grade student at The Lincoln School, made a comeback and clinched the 2017 State Spelling Bee with the championship word: “magnific.” She was one of 27 students who competed last Saturday morning at Lincoln Middle School for a chance to win the competition and move onto the national stage, the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C., in May.
Edelsberg said she studied every day for about 30 minutes, reading from the Scripps word packet in preparation for Saturday’s bee, whether that meant studying at home or while traveling in the car.
Edelsberg hadn’t qualified for the State Spelling Bee last year, and she said that though standing before a crowd at the state bee was intimidating, “if you’re confident and if you believe it, you can do it.”
After 18 rounds, Edelsberg and Giovanna Landrie, of West Warwick, an 8th-grade student at Deering Middle School, were the final two to share the stage. Landrie had survived 19 rounds at last year’s bee, before losing to two-time state winner Christopher Relyea of Lincoln.
The words “purblind” and “dewlap” caused Landrie to trip up in the “championship round,” the final stage of the spelling contest, though she successfully spelled “mar,” “aul,” “cossack” and “sevruga” earlier on in the competition.
The State Spelling Bee is sponsored by the Breeze, and Tom Ward, publisher, made opening remarks at the event this year. Jared Pliner, reporter/anchor at WPRI-TV 12, served as the pronouncer, and Donna Morelle, former superintendent of the Cumberland School Department, was chief judge.
Joining her on the panel were Martha Correia of Navigant Credit Union and Leigh Martin, professor of English at Community College of Rhode Island.
Copyright 2017 Breeze Publications, Inc. All Rights Reserved.