Fifth grader Madelyn Petrinec finished in 3rd place in the South Jersey Regional Spelling Bee on March 25 and represented ACS well as she competed against 19 other top spellers from schools across South Jersey. WHYY-TV, a sponsor of the Bee, recorded the spelling competition and also interviewed Maddie, along with the winner and runner-up, for a program that will air in June on PBS station TV-12 in South Jersey.
The bee was held at the Camden Big Picture Learning Academy. ACS Spelling Club Coach Jessica Martin as well as Maddie’s parents, Nathan and Kelly Petrinec, siblings Grace and Samuel, and grandparents David and Sue Petrinec, who traveled from Indiana, were on hand to cheer her on. This was not Maddie’s first appearance at the regional bee. She represented ACS at last year’s bee and earned 5th place.
The regional and national competitions are open to students from the 5th to 8th grades. Maddie finished just shy of the opportunity to compete in the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, DC in May. Only the first place winner and runner-up are allowed to advance to the national bee.
“I was sad at first, but then excited to have made it to 3rd place,” Maddie said. “Next year I want to go all the way.” After winning the ACS 1st-8th grade bee on February 16, Maddie had five weeks to study 25 pages of words provided by the regional bee organizers. She said she studied the word list with her mother every night for 40-45 minutes over those five weeks and remembers reviewing the word “connivery,” which came up in the 11th round of the bee. She made a mistake and spelled it with one “n” instead of two. The bee only went two more rounds before concluding with the top two winners.
During the week prior to the regional bee, two South Jersey media outlets published articles about Maddie winning the ACS Spelling Bee and moving on to compete in the regional spelling bee.
CLICK HERE to read the Press of Atlantic City article on Maddie and the ACS Spelling Bee.
CLICK HERE to read the Shore Local Newsmagazine article on the ACS Bee.
