Spelling Bee

Grace Academy held its spelling bee April 15. The winners were Rachel Rao, kindergarten; Carissa Grach, first grade; Mckenzie Slough and Jenna Wingert, second grade; Elizabeth Anders, third grade; Hunter Smith, fourth grade; and Harrison Barger, fifth grade.

Heritage Academy held its annual spelling bee Jan. 4. The winning students in each class received trophies. The winners were: • Fourth grade: Cameron Hahn, first; Colby Reese, second • Fifth grade: Jan Lomahan, first; Naomi Faith, second • Sixth grade: Faith Horst, first; Maelynne Patey, second • Seventh grade: Evan Reese, first; Maddie Runkles second • Eighth grade: Hannah Graff, first; Michael Hendershot, second....

Winners of the St. Mary Catholic School spelling bee were Asher Starliper, Madeleine Ward, Ian Ferguson, Zohaib Raja, Briana Whelan and Fatima Pasha.

Esotropia. Xanthodont. Pogoniasis. Quotidian. These are just a few of the more than 300 words Cassandra Li studied in preparation for the Western Maryland HealthSpell, a spelling bee that used health terminology. The 13-year-old Hagerstown resident spelled more than 100 words correctly before misspelling "immunodeficiency" to win second place in the June 4 spelling bee in Frostburg, Md. For her second-place finish, Cassandra won a $2,000 college scholarship. The daughter of Lieyu and Huiyu Li, Cassandra will be an eighth-grader in the fall.

SMITHSBURG - The final competition of the Smithsburg Middle School geography bee was held in January and when the dust cleared, three students came out on top. Tymon Walker-Cameron was the first-place winner, Lauren Greenwood took second place and Natalie Kauffman came in third. To qualify for the Maryland State Geography Bee, Tymon must have one of the top 100 scores on a written test completed after the school's geography bee is over. o In other competition at Smithsburg Middle, Chris Henderson and Jacob Moore finished first and second in the school's spelling bee for sixth-graders.

Two home-schooled students ended up dueling for the Washington County eighth-grade spelling bee title Saturday afternoon. Students from Saint Mary's School in downtown Hagerstown won the sixth- and seventh-grade spelling contests. Kevin Roberts, 14, who lives near Sandy Hook, correctly spelled "savorous" and "Pisces" to win the eighth-grade competition and a free trip to Washington to compete in the national spelling bee. Roberts, who also won a dictionary, a $100 U.S. Savings Bond, a trophy, a gift certificate and computer software, said he wasn't nervous during the contest.

Grace Academy held its spelling bee April 24 for students in kindergarten through fifth grade. The winners were Claire Heard, kindergarten, Mrs. Leasure's class; Cole Robins, kindergarten, Mrs. Brumbaugh's class; Lauren Conrad, first grade, Mrs. Clark's class; Erin Rudolph, first grade, Miss Shives' class; Raj Saxena, second grade, Mrs. Swacina's class; Claire Wingert, third grade, Mrs. Carver's class; Carissa Grach, fourth grade, Mrs. Morrison's class;...

Heritage Academy held its annual in-school spelling bee Jan. 9. Students in grades four to eight competed for the privilege to advance to the district meet sponsored by American Christian Schools International. Winners from grades six to eight also participated in the Washington County Spelling Bee. The fourth-grade spelling bee lasted 47 rounds, with the top two students continuing for 40 rounds after all other spellers were out.

Jade Lee and Evan Reese have big shoes to fill when it comes to spelling. Each has an older sibling who has won the Washington County Spelling Bee and gone on to compete at Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C. Saturday at the 2012-2013 Washington County Spelling Bee at Western Heights Middle School, the two not only filled the shoes, but to varying extents, followed in their footsteps. Jade, 13, of Leitersburg, won the eighth grade contest and will move on to compete in Washington, D.C. Evan, 13, of Greencastle, Pa., a student at Heritage Academy, was first runner-up.

Come and see the exciting conclusion to our search for a 2012-2013 county spelling champ. Watch our young spellers vie for the right to advance to the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C. The Spelling Bee takes place on Saturday, February 23, 2013 at 1 P.M. at Western Heights Middle School. In case of snow call 301-791-2191 after 9:00 A.M.   Winners Boonsboro Middle: 6th Grade: Ian Zinaich 7th Grade: Ajay Kosuri 8th Grade: Meghan Clark Clear Spring Middle: 6th Grade: Luke Faulkner 7th Grade: Gabby Conrad 8th Grade: Elizabeth Whitmore E Russell Hicks Middle: 6th Grade: Casey Owens 7th Grade: Jermaine Venable 8th Grade: Aiden Hulbert Hancock Middle: 6th Grade: Sunni Schriver 7th Grade: Logan Dawson 8th Grade: Michael Keefer Heritage Academy: 6th Grade: Jan Lomahan 7th Grade: Maelynne Patey 8th Grade: Evan Reese Northern Middle: 6th Grade: Amity Boarman 7th Grade: Rachel Kidwell 8th Grade: Christian Drury Smithsburg Middle: 6th Grade: Ryan Goodmansen 7th Grade: Cameron Snyder 8th Grade: Isaac Stottlemyer Springfield Middle: 6th Grade: Dylan Palladino 7th Grade: Ibrahim Diallo 8th Grade: Alexis Hubbard St. Mary Catholic School: 6th Grade: Emily Concovia 7th Grade: Julianna Swarner 8th Grade: Asher Starliper Runners-up...

Teens Have Choices will have a team spelling bee from noon to 2 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 12, at Bridge of Life, 6 S. Potomac St., in downtown Hagerstown. Rather than individuals competing against one another, adult spelling bees are team competitions, with the members of the team consulting with one another before submitting the spelling they think is correct. The result is a combination of friendly competition and team spirit. Teens may form a team to compete against their parents, teachers, coaches, or friends from other schools.

In preparing to travel to Landover, Md., for a district spelling bee last Monday, I was looking over the volunteer positions that had been assigned to teachers. Much to my surprise, under the sixth-grade bee assignments, there I was: Spelling Master. The job sounds more ominous than it is. It basically involves being able to pronounce words correctly, use them in sentences and listen closely as a student states each letter. The Spelling Master also has the job of breaking the news to the speller: In a positive way: “That is correct.” Or, in a negative way: “I'm sorry.

Monday, May 14 AP exams all week    2012-13 kindergarten registration - Applications available at all elementary schools Barbara Ingram School for the Arts - Morning dance rehearsal at The Maryland Theatre Boonsboro Middle - Band rehearsal for grades seven and eight, 3:45 p.m. Clear Spring Middle - Spring chorus concert at Clear Spring High, 7 p.m. E. Russell Hicks Middle ...

St. Mary Catholic School recently held its spelling bee for grades three, four and five.  The winners for each grade were Caroline Dillard (grade three), Donald Borum (grade four) and Madeline Sappenfield (grade five and overall winner). Also on hand for the competition was Vincent Steiner, winner of the middle school spelling contest, who presented gifts to the winners.  Coordinator of the event was Jennifer Karn, middle school language arts teacher. Judges  were Lois MacCumbee and Deborah Bockrath.

One could describe Grace Li as “cynical” in the way she performed at Saturday's 2011-12 Washington County Spelling Bee. With each word, the eighth-grader from Boonsboro Middle School asked the judges to repeat it, describe it and use it in a sentence, almost like she was “exhibiting feelings ranging from distrustful doubt to contemptuous and mocking disbelief” as the word was defined by judges. When her final challenger, Jennifer Cave of Clear Spring Middle School, bowed out by misspelling “oratorio” in the seventh round, Grace calmly stepped to the microphone and spelled the very word that described her demeanor.