Spelling bee fever took over two of Deer Park’s schools this spring, with students feverishly prepping for the contests and engaging in a high-stakes battle for spelling supremacy.

At JFK, students in the Let’s Make a Difference Club hosted the school’s second annual spelling bee. After a preliminary round, the top 20 students in the third, fourth and fifth grades met in the finals to earn the title of champion from each grade. The winners each received a $50 check, and the bee raised approximately $1,000 and three crates of food for the Saints Cyril & Methodius Church food pantry in Deer Park.

Meanwhile, Robert Frost Middle School students got caught up in the spelling fever, with 40 students in the sixth, seventh and eighth grades competing in classroom mini-bees before those winners moved on to the annual buildingwide competition. After 20 rounds, eighth grader Ryan Lin was named the winner, with seventh grader Shayan Hassan and sixth grader Bisaj Paul as runners-up. This win qualified Lin and Hassan to move on to the Regional Spelling Bee, hosted at Bay Shore Middle School against winners from around Long Island.

“Congratulations to all participants,” Director John F. Kennedy Intermediate School of ELA, Reading and Library Justin Uliano said.

Date Added: 5/24/2024