The Noah Webster House & West Hartford Historical Society sponsored the town-wide bee, and winners from each West Hartford middle school will move on to regional competition.

From left: Amy Goldstein, Tom Paleologopoulos, winner Anthony Heller, Zoe Rossamundo, Arjun Jagjivan, and Jennifer DiCola Matos. Submitted photo

Submitted by Noah Webster House & West Hartford Historical Society

Could you spell “pachyderm”?  How about “gargantuan”?

On Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2016, spellers from West Hartford middle schools proved that they could.

The Noah Webster House & West Hartford Historical Society sponsored the inaugural West Hartford Town-Wide Spelling Bee with West Hartford Public Schools. The top two students from each middle school’s sixth, seventh, and eighth grade spelling competitions were invited to participate in the spelling bee.

Students, cheered on by their families and friends, spelled words in rounds until King Philip Middle School sixth grader Anthony Heller won the bee in the 17th round, correctly spelling the word “accompany.” Zoe Rossamondo, an eighth grader also at King Philip, came in second place.

As the school with the overall top speller, King Philip Middle School earned the right to display the West Hartford Town-Wide Spelling Bee trophy at their school until next year’s spelling bee. Top speller Anthony Heller took home a personal trophy as the 2016 West Hartford Town-Wide Spelling Bee Champion and will move on to the Regional Spelling Bee at Quinnipiac University on Saturday, March 12, 2016.

Each school may send their top speller to the Regional Bee: eighth grader Corina Chang will represent Bristow Middle School and seventh grader Mary Capone will represent Sedgwick Middle School.

Pamela Heller, the overall winner’s mother said, “We are very happy for Anthony and feel excited that he even had the opportunity to be up there on stage competing with his peers. The regional bee will be a lot of fun, too, and we want him to be proud of himself no matter what happens.”

The Regional Bee, called the “Quinnipiac University School of Education Spelling Bee,” will be held at the university. Prizes will be awarded to the top five spellers of the competition. The overall winner will represent Connecticut in the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Maryland in May 2016.

Anthony’s father, Ben, said, “We are really excited for him. He has always been an avid reader and it is great for him to have this opportunity to experience how studying and hard work can pay off”.

The town-wide bee was open to all middle schoolers in West Hartford. To be eligible to move to the Regional Bee, the school must be enrolled with Scripps National Spelling Bee.

“We are all so proud of the twenty-four spellers who qualified for the town-wide bee, and their alternates,” said Sarah Mocko St. Germain, Public Programs Manager at the Noah Webster House. “They all worked really hard to get there, and they all deserve recognition.”

Anthony got to the bee through hard work. “I studied spelling words almost every night,” he said, “and my friends and classmates were very supportive.” When asked what advice he would give to future spelling bee contestants, Anthony said, “Never give up.”

The 24 spellers were from the three public middle schools in West Hartford and included Carolyn Alquist, Nadia Alsubai, Alex Castillo, Isabella del Aguila, Corina Chang, Mary Capone, Tyler Denault, Ben Gardner, Fernando Goffe, Jr., John Haslun, Anthony Heller, Ryan Jones, Rachael Jopeck, Jenna Kopp, Sophie Kudler, Ryan Lafferty, Aaron Lam, Drini Puka, Josiah Rivers, Zoe Rossamondo, Eli Stevens, Meredith Swanson, Eva Weiner, and Eli Wizevich.

Amy Goldstein, copyeditor at ESPN.com and ESPN The Magazine, served as the “pronouncer” for the event. Amy is also a past Scripps National Spelling Bee participant. Tom Paleologopoulos, supervisor of English for the West Hartford Public Schools, and Jennifer DiCola Matos, executive director of the Noah Webster House & West Hartford Historical Society, served as judges.

“The Noah Webster House & West Hartford Historical Society is so pleased to sponsor the West Hartford Town-Wide Spelling Bee,” said Matos. “It’s just so fitting for a museum dedicated to Noah Webster, the author of the American dictionary, to be involved in a spelling bee, and one in the lexicographer’s home town, no less.”

Noah Webster began work on an American English dictionary after early success writing an essential American schoolbook, A Grammatical Institute of the English Language, also known as the “Blue-Backed Speller.” Webster encouraged the use of American spellings like “color” instead of the English “colour” and “music” instead of “musick.” He also added uniquely American words to his work like “skunk” and “squash.” Webster published his magnum opus,An American Dictionary of the English Language, in 1828. It was later purchased by the Merriam brothers of Springfield, MA and a descendant of Webster’s original is still published today by Merriam-Webster, Inc.

The Noah Webster House & West Hartford Historical Society plans on hosting the second Annual West Hartford Town-Wide Spelling Bee in January 2017 and hopes to get even more schools involved. “We would like for the bee to be truly “town-wide,” said Matos. “West Hartford is fortunate to have many private schools and we’d love to have them participate as well.”

The Noah Webster House & West Hartford Historical Society is grateful to the Greater Hartford Arts Council and the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving for their continued support.

The Noah Webster House & West Hartford Historical Society is a cultural destination where citizens can learn to understand and appreciate the past. The museum preserves the birthplace of Noah Webster, the founding father, educator, author, and lexicographer who taught generations of Americans what it means to be American. This National Historic Landmark is also a repository for the history of West Hartford, the community that molded Noah Webster’s future and is still thriving over 250 years later. The historic house and exhibit spaces are open daily 1 p.m. until 4 p.m. For information on the museum’s extensive school and public programs, please visit www.noahwebsterhouse.org or call (860) 521-5362.

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