SCITUATE – Hope Elementary School 5th-grader Elliana Pagliarini landed in Washington, D.C. this week to represent Rhode Island in the Scripps National Spelling Bee, and she said she was ready for a week full of nothing but words. Pagliarini, daughter of Heather and Rich Pagliarini, said she studied hundreds of words to prepare for the two-night competition May 29-30 in the nation’s capital. The national competition also requires participants to define words, she said. Pagliarini previously won the Rhode Island State Spelling Bee, sponsored by The Breeze. Her first day in the capital was spent getting acquainted with the resort, and meeting other contestants. There are 245 contestants, and Pagliarini has made it to the quarterfinals, in the top 148. On Monday, Pagliarini proudly waved the Rhode Island flag during the opening ceremonies. She is the only contestant representing Rhode Island. Spellers at the national bee beat state and regional spelling competitions, with 11 million spellers competing in total, said Pagliarini’s mother, Heather. Spelling began on Wednesday, Pagliarini said, with the contestant spelling one word after studying 900 words. If she spelled that correctly, she would move on to the second round of vocabulary. For that competition, Pagliarini said, she studied 1,700 words and definitions, and will be asked to define only one word. During the next round, Pagliarini would spell multiple words from a 500-word selection. The competition runs for three hours until the judges have a certain number of spellers for the quarter-final, she said. Words for the quarter-final are selected from the unabridged dictionary of 75,000 words. “You never know which words you’re going to get,” she said. Heather said that not all words are in English, either. Some words are in German, Yiddish, Javanese, or Sanskrit. “I have no problem with Sanskrit,” she stated. After that, a final round will be held with 13 spellers, where the winner receives a $50,000 prize and bragging rights, Pagliarini said. “There has never been a champion from Rhode Island. I hope to be the first in Rhode Island to win,” she added. Pagliarini and her mother agree that her chances are pretty good for the win, since she already won the Scituate Spelling Bee twice, and she’s eligible to compete for another three years. She said she likes to spell and loves the competition. “I’m happy that I’ve pushed myself to be here,” she said. On her trip, Pagliarini has spent plenty of time playing word games. She said the spellers have a yearbook where they collect each other’s signatures, and she’s met numerous other spellers, including last year’s champion. “It’s really cool,” she said. The Scripps National Spelling Bee can be viewed on the ION channel for free on May 30 at 8 p.m. 

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. 

LINCOLN – Paula Daglieri beat out 17 fellow competitors in the Rhode Island State Spelling Bee last Saturday, taking the win after 14 rounds of correctly spelling words written out in imaginary ink on her hand. The newly-crowned state champion Daglieri, daughter of Heather Daglieri, attends Immaculate Conception Regional School in Cranston. She will now move on to the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Maryland on June 2. According to her mother, young Daglieri studied “like crazy” for the bee, and her mom was confident she would win. Daglieri said she was so excited to win, saying she expected to be eliminated in the first round, but she showed no signs of a lack of confidence throughout the bee. Though Daglieri previously competed as a fifth grader, this is the first time she participated at the state level. Daglieri correctly spelled dodge, standee, restaurant, mischief, excursion, casserole, unabated, auburn, boomslang, integument, cannoli, retinoscopy, and ventriloquy, finally winning with the championship work analepsis. As part of the virtual bee, spellers were instructed to keep their hands in view of the camera to help prevent cheating. Daglieri used the setup to her advantage, tracing out each work as if she were writing it out to assist with the proper spelling. The Valley Breeze sponsors the state bee, and the state champion speller’s trip to the National Spelling Bee. Other sponsors included Navigant Credit Union, Anchor Subaru/Nissan, Hunter Insurance, and Dave’s Marketplace. Sue McKenna, an administrator at Immaculate Conception, said she was thrilled and proud of Daglieri for her performance. Runner-up Andres Puerta, of Blackstone Valley Prep, made it 13 rounds with Daglieri, eventually missing on the word annihilate. To that point, Puerta had spelled bagpipe, isolation, kindergarten, vaccination, frugal, jihad, nocturnal, buffet, hyrax, phosphorescent, aphasia, and drupiferous. Puerta will spell in Daglieri’s place should she not be able to compete at the national level. The second runner-up, James MacDonald of Ricci Middle School in North Providence, spelled correctly for 12 rounds before missing on the word placoderm. MacDonald correctly spelled rules, cartoon, rubric, kosher, missive, attendee, besieged, bowsprit, and leviathan. Locals Everett Webster of Lincoln Middle School and Kiara Laguerre of Gallagher Middle School in Smithfield made a strong showing through seven rounds before being knocked out in the eighth. Webster spelled cheese, memes, cabbage, insomnia, escapade, frontier, celebratory and sophisticated before getting caught up on the word geocaching. Webster added an “e” after the “h,” and was knocked out of the competition. Laguerre correctly spelled blurb, junior, carnation, acceptance, wearisome, brochure, and altercation. She misspelled protectorate in the eighth round. All students showed good sportsmanship when knocked out, with most thanking pronouncer Kim Kalunian, of WPRI Channel 12, and judges for helping with the bee. Breeze Editor-in-Chief Ethan Shorey led a practice round, and the judges were Donna Morelle, former superintendent of schools in Cumberland, Leigh Martin, professor of English at CCRI, and Martha Correia, of Navigant. Breeze Publisher Jamie Quinn ran the technical aspects of the bee, making sure everyone was comfortable with the processes throughout. Other spellers included: Serena Ya, Joaquin Arellano, Jannyah Calderson, Haider Rahim, Cassiopeia Nicolas, Luca Dorrien Traisci, Forrest McNamara, Richard Bond, Phillip Spradlin, Veronica Visconti, and Cienna McNamara.

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. 

Valley Breeze & Observer Staff Writer jackie@valleybreeze.com