2020 Spelling Bee Contestants Head to Regional Bee

The Cortland Enlarged City School District's 2019-20 Spell Off was recently held. Students were quizzed on words such as parachute, coincidence, and suffuse. 

The top four Randall Middle School finalists and top four Junior High finalists (listed below) will represent the District and compete in the 2020 Post-Standard Spelling Bee. Contestants must not have passed beyond eighth grade before Feb. 1, 2020 or reached their 16th birthday on or before May 25, 2020 to be eligible. All students will compete at the same grade level.

The first level of competition in Syracuse is a written spell off exam at Christian Brothers Academy on Saturday, January 25. The top thirty-five spellers from the written bee will compete in an oral bee on Saturday, February 29, at WCNY Studios in Syracuse.

Valerosa Gambitta said, “I feel like by participating in the spelling bee was something that I can do for fun and for a challenge. I have done this for three years now and each year I prepare by studying the most common misspelled words, along with harder more complex words.” 

The following students made it to the written spell off at Christina Brothers academy: 

Middle School Spell Off Finalists 

• Gabriel Mendiola
• Olivia Johnson
• Braxton Towle
• Micah Martin

Junior High Spell Off Finalists 

• Rileigh Madden
• Valerosa Gambitta
• Matt DeRado
• Claire Turner 

We wish to congratulate these gifted spellers, and wish them good luck and success on January 25, 2020.