These kids can really s-p-e-l-l

For the first time, the Levittown School District took part in the Scripps National Spelling Bee, and eight students advanced to the regional competition at Hofstra University.

The super spellers were recognized at the March 30 Board of Education meeting. Among those honored were Jonas Salk Middle School seventh-grader Shannon O’Leary, East Broadway Elementary School fifth-grader Valerie Bonavita, and Lee Road Elementary School fifth-grader Janine Ren. All three live in Wantagh.

As winners of their school-wide spelling bees, they were allowed to advance to regional competition on March 13.

Shannon won Salk’s spelling bee with the word “migratory,” and spelled “algebra” correctly at Hofstra. “I felt excited and nervous,” she said of being on stage. “It was fun.”

Janine was Lee Road’s top speller by getting the word “latency” correct. “I’m proud of myself for winning after studying so hard,” she said.

At Hofstra, she correctly spelled “necessary.” She said she expected a much harder word, but as soon as the word was announced, Janine knew she had it. She explained that she uses reading as a way of learning new words.

All of the students were asked to spell one word as they received their awards last week. Valerie was given “pharaoh,” which she said was the hardest word given to her in the school spelling bee. At Hofstra, she spelled “cockatoo” correctly.

“I got very nervous because there were so many people in the audience,” she said. “I got used to it after a while.”

Valerie added that she received a list of potential words for the spelling bee and after studying it extensively, she asked anyone she could to quiz her.

Debbie Rifkin, the assistant superintendent for instruction, said that while there have been spelling bees in the schools before, this was the first time it was done on a district-wide level and in conjunction with the Scripps Bee. It was open to students in grades 3-8.

The district had a student from Abbey Lane Elementary School place eighth in the county, and another from Wisdom Lane Middle School finish in the top third.

“We wanted to recognize our students who are good spellers, and be able to compete with other school districts,” Rifkin said of the reason for creating a district-wide event. “We are very proud of all of our spelling bee winners.”