A Franklin School fifth-grader finished on top at Park Ridge-Niles School District 64’s annual spelling bee, bringing a new name and face to the winner’s spot for the first time in five school years.
Aki Stanojevic took first place in the 11-round bee, which was held Jan. 29 at Washington School.
Stanojevic is the first new winner of the district bee since 2014. For four consecutive years, student Catherine Sernel dominated the district spelling bees, taking first place each time and qualifying for a regional competition.
Sernel graduated from Lincoln Middle School last year.
Stanojevic won the 2018 bee by correctly spelling the word “bandit,” the district said. His win allowed him to advance to the North Cook Regional Spelling Bee on Feb. 6 in Kenilworth, according to the district.
Taking second place in the District 64 bee was Nathan Kapetanou, also a fifth-grader at Franklin.
In an unusual finish, there was a three-way tie for third place, according to the district. Sharing third place were Nathan Brozell, an eighth-grader at Emerson Middle School; Emma Baumann, a third-grader at Washington School; and Charlie Warner, a fourth-grader at Carpenter School.
Warner placed fourth in last year’s contest, finishing behind three eighth-graders.
The annual District 64 Spelling Bee included spelling and vocabulary rounds. Judges were teachers Sue Douglass and Shirlee Pater, with Sandy Blethen, gifted curriculum specialist and district program facilitator. The pronouncer was speech pathologist Nancy Jensen. Meghan Keefer was the bee coordinator.
Participants in the district bee qualified after winning top positions in their individual school spelling bees, the district said. Just over 200 students reportedly participated in the school bees.
Also participating in the district-wide spelling bee were Dominic Conversa and Amelia Aguila of Carpenter School; Anna Tinaglia and Mia Parangalan of Emerson Middle School; Caitlyn Button, Milani Mathis and Haley Woodruff of Field School; Kendall Bai of Franklin School; Tommy Devlin, Carsten Bridges and Ella Sieburg of Lincoln Middle School; Elias Kallen, Riyad Abukhalaf and Sam Higgins of Roosevelt School; and Warda Rizwan and Luke Compton of Washington School.
Twitter: @Jen_Tribune
