On Thursday, October 10th, twelve students from grades 2-8 traveled north to represent Atlantic Christian School at the NNJCSA 2024 Spelling Bee. The bee was hosted at Abundant Life Academy in Nutley, NJ, a suburb of New York City.
Back row, left to right: Mrs. Rhapsody Hahn-Chaney (filling in for Spelling Bee coordinator Mrs. Jessica Martin), Joseph Kinch (7), Cecile Tormey (6), Caitlin Doucett (6), Madelyn Petrinec (7), and Gaebriel Hahn-Chaney (8). Front row, left to right: John Walley (4), Jordan Vielma (3), Daniel Awad (4), Brielle Sabulao (3), Jess Obot (2), Rachael Eachus (5), Madeleine Sawyer (5).
Antagonize. Judicious. Extravagant. Tenacious.
These are a few of the words that ACS’s middle school students were tasked to spell at Northern New Jersey Christian School Association’s spelling bee in October. Several of these students are familiar faces within the program, having consistently qualified for regional spelling bees. Other students were first timers in this competition and are likely to return in future years.
At NNJCSA’s 2024 Spelling Bee, Atlantic Christian School went up against American Christian, Eastern Christian School, Hawthorne Christian Academy, Timothy Christian, Arrow Academy, and others. While only one ACS participant, Madelyn Petrinec, advanced to the final rounds, all twelve boys and girls in the group exhibited a high level of professionalism during the program.
After the preliminary rounds, the twelve students and attending parents took a lunch break and enjoyed some time outdoors while waiting for the second half of the bee.
Maddie Petrinec went on to win a ribbon for second place at the seventh grade level. Maddie has been a fierce competitor for several years, representing ACS multiple times at NNJCSA’s competition and at the ACSI Spelling Bee. Maddie has participated in the Scripps South Jersey Regional Spelling Bee as ACS’ representative for three consecutive years and in 2023 took 3rd place for all of South Jersey.
The drive was over four hours long round trip but our young spellers showed determination and an impressive work ethic throughout the long day. Our seven elementary-aged spellers were full of excitement and truly showed academic potential and a commitment to competitive spelling.
Set to relaunch on November 19th, Mrs. Jessica Martin will coach an afterschool spelling club for students in grades 1-8, with a teacher recommendation. This is a free program to help prepare students for the class level bees and school wide spelling bee, which is typically hosted in February. The Spelling Club will meet on Mondays from 3:15-4pm in the ACS Library. Click here to sign up.