Brian Gilbert Captures
HHS Spelling Bee
Brian Gilbert has a way with words. The junior won the third annual Huntington High School spelling bee when he correctly spelled "mnemonic" in the finals of the competition.
In the fierce battle for first place, Mr. Gilbert edged fellow juniors Donovan Richardson and Marc Feldman, who finished second and third, respectively. Prizes included iTunes and Book Revue gift cards.
The officers of Huntington's Post Ellipsis chapter of the National English Honor Society spent about a month planning this year's spelling bee. "First we created a preliminary spelling test, which was administered in every English class," said Taylor Choy, the organization's president. "From there we selected the students with the top scores to be contestants for the competition."
The bulk of the finals played out over three periods near the end of a recent school day. "We had over 60 participants," Ms. Choy said. The NEHS officers chose the words posed to contestants and created the sentences used in the competition itself.
"Students were allowed to attend the event during their free periods or lunch periods or if their teacher brought them down to the auditorium," Ms. Choy said.
Judges included Huntington School Board President Emily Rogan, Chairperson of Humanities Joseph Leavy and teachers Aimee Antorino and Bonnie Guarino, who are the NEHS's co-faculty advisors. Superintendent James W. Polansky was in the audience for a segment of the competition.
Mr. Leavy said his role as a judge allowed him "to fully appreciate the challenge, pressure and hard work a student needs to put in to prepare to be a finalist, and ultimately, a winner in such a contest of memory and skill." He credited Ms. Antorino and Ms. Guarino "for such a spectacular event and new tradition."
This year's National English Honor Society chapter at Huntington High School has a membership numbering 179. In addition to Ms. Choy, the organization is led by Molly Prep (vice-president), Michael Stafford (treasurer), Molly Brambil (secretary) and historians Allegra DePasquale and Laura Ironman.
To be considered for NEHS membership a student must have a minimum academic grade average of 90, "exhibiting an impressive breadth of academic excellence," while maintaining a grade of at least 92 in English.