NORTH PROVIDENCE — The Valley Breeze Newspapers sponsored the annual Rhode Island Spelling Bee Championship on March 14 in the North Providence High School auditorium.
Thirty middle-school contestants from throughout the state vied for the win and a chance to represent Rhode Island in the Nationals held in Washington, D.C.
Two students represented diocesan schools in the bee; Theresa Sengpraseuth of Good Shepherd Regional School, Woonsocket, and Caitlin LaMountain of Msgr. Matthew F. Clark School, Wakefield.
The Utility Contractors Association of Rhode Island and Citizens Bank were recognized as supporters of the competition and each participant received a gift basket from Citizens Bank.
The moderator for the event was Tom Ward, publisher of The Valley Breeze, who praised the students for reaching the state level of the competition. Ward said, “Parents should be proud of their children” for their accomplishments thus far. Rhode Island’s General Treasurer, Frank Caprio, conducted a “warm up” exercise with the students as a practice round using words that were related to money such as: fiscal, commerce and equity. Misspellings in the practice round did not count against the contestants.
Erica Ricci, reporter and anchor for ABC 6 News was the official pronouncer from the competition. The competition lasted for more than an hour with most participants surviving through a dozen or more rounds of difficult words. One speller may have thought it “picayune” when he was given that word to spell, but he spelled it correctly.
In the end, Ellis Iacono of Barrington Middle School was the winner who will compete in the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C. in May. Joseph Zazza, Jr. of Burrillville Middle School placed second.
