West Hempstead students compete in Spanish spelling bee

    A number of foreign-language students in the sixth, seventh and eighth grades at West Hempstead Middle School participated in a Spanish spelling bee, sponsored by the New York State Education Department, on Thursday, March 18.
    Students were required to spell Spanish words correctly, pronouncing not only letters from the Spanish alphabet, but also diacritical marks, such as accent marks and tildes. All participants received prizes, but the first-, second- and third-place winners received trophies.
    The top three winners from West Hempstead were, in first place, eighth-grader Jamie Rodriguez, Jeancarlo Ramos in second place and Christopher Gabayan in third place. Jamie will represent the West Hempstead Union Free School District in the final competition, which takes place on May 28 at the United Federation of Teachers Headquarters in New York City.