Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Spelling Bee Update

A little more than a month ago, I threw a couple of hard-to-spell words at you in an effort to sound impressive as I reported on Woodglen's Spelling Bee.  As I reported, eighth-grader, Valerie Noonan, carried the torch for the district into the regional finals of the 24th Annual Scripps Nation Spelling Bee.

I would venture to say that few people outside of the Noonan family made the trek to Northampton Community College in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.  If you had, you would have been treated to quite a competition.  After 23 rounds of competition, 48 of the 51 competitors had been eliminated; the two remaining competitors - Priyanka Thirumurti of Moravian Academy and our own Valerie Noonan.  After 10 rounds of head to head competition, Valerie finished in second place. 

Martin K. Till, President and publisher of the Express-Times, and the host of the bee, described this year's competition as the most exciting in the 24 year history of the regional competition.  Valerie represented our school, our district and our community well - we are very proud of her accomplishment.  Her second place finish was the best ever for a Woodglen Student, as she was one word away from qualifying for the National Competition in Washington, DC.

Congratulations, Valerie, on a job well done!

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