Third time’s a charm for 5th grader, Nate Felix, winner of this year’s spelling bee at Dedham Country Day. Twelve contestants from 3rd to 8th grade, representing the top spelling performers each class, flexed their spelling muscle in this morning’s competition.

 

Drawing words from the human body and system, DCD English teacher, Mr. Edie, challenged students to dig deep with their spelling prowess. Larynx, tendon, diaphragm, esophagus, gallbladder, tonsil, and circulation were some of the words that initiated some stumbling! After several rounds in the competition and returning to non-body part challenging words, there were three students left on stage for the final round: Nate Felix (5th), Mia Bourji (6th) and Jason Sima (8th). Nate emerged the winner after both Mia and Jason misspelled their words.
New for this year, DCD is now a part of the Scripps Spelling Bee program which enables students through 8th grade to compete at the state and then national level. Nate will go onto take the written test in February. The top 50 scores from the written test will move onto the Massachusetts state competition in March and then the state winner will compete in the televised national competition in June. As the DCD Bee winner, Nate will receive a free subscription to Britannica Kids. Congratulations to all of this morning’s bee participants and good luck to Nate as he continues his spelling bee journey! For more information about the Scripps Bee program, visit http://spellingbee.com/

Ella Cocchi
Dash Claflin
Avery Ouellette
Meri Freniere
Nate Felix
Jocelyn Riordan
Mia Bourji
Annie Maalouf
Brooks Sjostrom
Stephen Chen
Vincent Jaeger
Jason Sima