Thursday, March 20, 2025
Uniondale students in third through eighth grades competed in a districtwide spelling bee on Jan. 30.
Scripps provides the words for the competition, and the winners from each school will move on to the regional competition. A total of 21 students competed from the district’s five elementary schools and two middle schools.
Students, parents and teachers alike were relieved when it was over. “I think everybody feels relieved,” said Michele Lee, who served as the pronouncer.
“But it’s like any competition. There’s a lot of emotions. We all want the kids to win, and there can only be one winner. That’s the tough thing about a sum-zero sport. We try to teach the kids, ‘You try your best. You try to be proud of yourself. We’re all proud of you.’”
The bee was judged by Reading Department teachers Koula Sigler, of Grand Avenue School, Debbie Karapolous, of Smith Street Elementary School, and Nancy Luca, of Walnut Street Elementary.
Jennifer Kate Prawl, of Smith Street, was the winner, followed by two second-place spellers, Jameer Henry, of Walnut Street, and Sage Winfield, of Turtle Hook Elementary.
“She reads everything possible,” said Jennifer Kate’s father, Matthew Prawl. “We do the best we can to feed her habit, which is why she makes us regular visitors to the library. We have to make sure that she has as many books as we can keep on hand.”
Jennifer Kate’s mother, Rita Greshan, agreed.
“Barnes & Noble takes a lot of our money,” Greshan said gleefully.
Prawl and Greshan helped Jennifer Kate study the 4,500 words on the Scripps list, rather than the Scripps-based district list provided by the teachers. Along with her natural talents and habits, that enabled her to win.
“So this list here — not all of the words were in their packet,” Lee said. “So many of the words that they heard might not have been something that they could even prepare for. So it’s really just that innate ability to spell.”
But Jennifer Kate was prepared. Still, both she and Lee believe it’s just something about Jennifer Kate that makes her good at spelling.
“I basically think that it’s, I just know a lot of things,” Jennifer Kate said. “I think it’s basically just my smartness that makes me good at spelling.”
Lee sees it a little differently. “I almost feel like she can see it,” Lee said. “There were really difficult words that she got.”
However, Lee continued, what put Jennifer Kate over the top may have been her strategy, which was to take advantage of all the information available.
“She would ask for the origin,” Lee said. “She would ask for it to be used in a sentence. And I think sometimes students don’t always take advantage of that, and they should, because it will help them.”
While she was on the spot, Jennifer Kate didn’t seem nervous at all. “She doesn’t show her nerves,” her father said. “She tends to step up to the plate. And I just want her to be happy, at the end of the day, with her performance. As long as we got that, we’re good.”
“While I was up there, in the last moments, when there was only three people left including me, I was excited,” Jennifer Kate recounted.
The second-place speller, Sage Winfield, also felt less nervous at that point. “I was a bit nervous, but then I started to get used to it,” she said.
Sage also studied a lot to prepare, with the help of her parents.
“We studied the words daily, maybe three times a day some days,” Terry Mohammed, Sage’s mother, said. “She reads a lot, and she’s pretty good at everything she does. She likes to read, so she’s familiar with words.”
But once the competition ended, the whole family was relieved. “I’m glad it’s over, for now,” Mohammed said.
Greshan had the same feeling. “We can rest until it’s time to get ready for the regional,” she said. “We’re just gonna celebrate, and live in the moment now, and then get back to studying.”
