By Diane Root
The Multi Purpose Room at Ocean City Intermediate School was filled with excitement and anticipation. Twenty-seven 5th graders competed in the third annual Ocean City Spelling Bee. The Spelling Bee is sponsored by the Ocean City Colony Club.
The Colony Club is a women’s club committed to helping the community. The Colony Club is part of the New Jersey State Federation of Women’s Clubs, which in turn is part of the National General Federation of Women’s Clubs, established in Washington D.C. Both the local Colony Club and the New Jersey State Federation participate in projects to benefit charities and non-profits. They also provide scholarships for young people going to college.
In preparation for the Spelling Bee each 5th grade class held practice spelling bees. Christine Franckle coordinated the efforts of the fifth grade teachers at the Intermediate School. Teachers chose both spelling and vocabulary words from novels the students are reading. From those practice spelling bees the teachers recommended five students from each class. An alternate from each class was also recommended to participate.
For the actual Spelling Bee competition, the word list came from the New Jersey State Federation of Women’s Club.
The top local winner will go on to compete in the New Jersey Federation of Women sponsored spelling bee on March 4th, in New Brunswick, New Jersey.
Principal Geoff Haines did a fabulous job reading the words and providing a context sentence when asked. The judges were Marianne Zelinski, a 6th grade English, Language Arts teacher, Megan Duffey, a 7th grade English, Language Arts teacher, and Patricia Pepe, an 8th grade English, Language Arts teacher, along with Karen Mahar, the director of Ocean City Library. The Colony Club was grateful for them volunteering their time.
Also in attendance were two Ocean City representatives, City Councilman, Michael DeVlieger and Director of Community Services, Michael Allegretto
The Ocean City Spelling Bee started with twenty-seven students. By the end of the 5th round all but three students were eliminated. The 6th round determined the winning order. Liam Goucher came in 3rd. Matthew Lenko came in 2nd spelling the word “arithmetic”. Vincent Ingui came in 1st spelling the word “frugal”. The boys all indicated they enjoyed reading. They had studied the classroom spelling bee words at home with an adult. Matthew said he broke the spelling words down into “chunks” in his mind and spelled them out loud. Vincent relied on the spelling rules to spell his words correctly.
The Colony Club awarded a $25 gift card to the 2nd and 3rd place winners. The first place winner received a $50 gift card. In closing, the Colony Club co-chair person, Susan Newkirk, acknowledged the efforts of all the participants.
Good luck to Vincent Ingui in the New Jersey State competition on March 4th!
