These twin sisters know how to s-p-e-l-l

With 250 students and staff anxiously watching Winnie and Leila Xu, twins and fifth grade students at Hewlett Elementary School, compete against each other in the school’s spelling bee, Winnie remembers thinking it didn’t matter who finished first or second place as they were the only two left standing in the competition so she knew one of them would win.

The spelling bee went 22 rounds, the longest Principal Sandy Pensak has ever seen in her eight years as principal. Pensak said the final nine rounds were a nail- biter as they were just between Winnie and Leila.

“You could see in their faces as they came to the microphone that they were concerned for their sibling,” Pensak said. “It very much resembled a ping-pong match.”

In the end, however, Winnie won the spelling bee and Leila was the runner-up. “At first I was excited,” Winnie said about the win. “But then I got nervous and scared to move onto the next level.”

Despite her nervousness, Winnie will advance to represent Hewlett next month in the Long Island Spelling Bee Semifinal Written Round in Plainview. Her sister Leila and her parents will be there to cheer her on.

Both sisters love to read and Leila said she likes fantasy series while Winnie likes realistic fiction. Although they have different tastes in book genres, they both love the Harry Potter books and said they’re favorite subjects in school are reading and math.

“The girls are avid readers,” Pensak said. “And the more you read, the more you’re exposed to words.”

When it comes time to studying, the girls said they study spelling for 45 minutes to an hour on the weekends and after school as well. They start studying fourth grade words and then advance to fifth grade words, usually memorizing 15 words a day.

They agree that if a student is thinking about getting involved with the spelling bee, they should study a lot and have a parent or sibling test them on the words. “We always study together,” Winnie said.

With the next level fast approaching, Winnie said Leila would continue to test her on spelling words to help her prepare. “The next level is a written test,” Winnie said. “So I think it will be easier for me to write the words since I have an easier time with writing.”

Pensak said she wishes Winnie the very best in the next round of the spelling bee. “We know she can do very well as long as her nerves don’t get to her,” she said. “We’re confident she’ll give her best effort because she always does.”