The top spellers are, from left: Grace St. Onge, Yavuz Damkac and Kevin Waters.
OSWEGO – Leighton Elementary School’s top spellers battled it out head-to-head Thursday afternoon to determine who would be moving on to the district-wide spelling bee in March.
When the dust had settled, Yavuz Damkaci earned first place honors. The sixth grader’s winning word was cyclops.
In second place was fifth grader Kevin Waters. His winning word was administration.
Rounding out the top three was Grace St. Onge, a third grader. Her winning word was bulletin.
The bee started out with 21 spellers.
As the rounds wore on, the field was trimmed to four; and then, to the final three.
They determined the top three by process of elimination, explained Amy Armet, bee facilitator.
“All students in grades three through six took pre-tests to determine who would qualify to be in the school spelling bee,” she told Oswego County Today. “They had about six to eight weeks to study the words.”
One young lady fell victim to the rules. She was given the word regents, but spelled the word regions; and, according to the rules, that was a misspelling.
Helping conduct the bee were: Mrs. Tammy Reynolds (library/media specialist), Mr. Brian Beaudin (band teacher), Mrs. Stephanie Poel (RTI Literacy Specialist) and Ms. Armet (Americorps) helped with the sound system and choreographing the students on stage.
Mrs. Jennifer Symborski (RTI Literacy Specialist), Mrs. Jennifer Cahill (RTI Math Specialist) and Mrs. Elizabeth Photos (Special Education Teacher) were the judges.
The first place winner earned a $15 gift card to Rivers End Bookstore and a free movie pass.
Second and Third place winners each won a $10 gift card to Rivers End Bookstore.
The three winners will go on to the District Spelling Bee on March 17 at Oswego High School.
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