3 Baldwinsville students advance to oral round of the Regional Spelling Bee

Three Baldwinsville Central School District students will advance to the oral round of The Post-Standard/Syracuse.com Spelling Bee.

Congratulations to the following students: 

Aidan Maloney Mcrae, 5th grader at Elden Elementary School

Giacomo Moritz, 5th grader at Palmer Elementary School

Sonia Nadzan, 5th grader at Palmer Elementary School

The students won their school spelling bee and competed in the regional round to qualify for the local final round. The top 20 scorers on the written bee will compete in the oral spelling bee on March 5 at the Everson Museum. The oral round will be recorded and shown on Syracuse.com on April 1.

The winner of that competition will represent Central New York in the 2022 Scripps National Spelling Bee, May 27 through June 2, at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland.

The Scripps National Spelling Bee is the nation’s largest and longest-running educational program. The purpose of the Scripps National Spelling Bee is to help students improve their spelling, increase their vocabularies, learn concepts and develop correct English usage that will help them all their lives.

Mr. Coughlin, Elden’s principal, and Mr. Ewing, Palmer’s principal, said they haven’t had a student go to the oral round since they’ve been in their positions at their schools.

“It’s so exciting,” Mr. Ewing said.

Sonia Nadzan said she plans to study with her dad. Giacomo Moritz said he’s not sure how he’ll prepare, but he’s excited to be part of the oral round of the spelling bee.

Mr. Coughlin said Aidan Maloney Mcrae was the first student in his memory to spell every word correctly in the school’s spelling bee, which was held earlier this school year. 

“We are really proud of Aidan,” Mr. Coughlin said. 

When asked how he became such a good speller, Aidan gave the credit to his mother. 

“My mom taught me when I was younger,” he said. 

Superintendent Thomson said he’s extremely proud to have three Baldwinsville students represent the district in the regional spelling bee. 

 “It’s a tremendous achievement to make it to the oral round, especially for fifth graders and we have three fifth graders representing our district this year,” Thomson said. “Great work and good luck!”