Spelling Bee

Four Rosemont Middle School students competed in the Glendale Unified School District's Middle School Spelling Bee last week, and two made it to the top six of best spellers in the district. Rosemont students Ellen McNeill, Jessica S. Kim, Galeh Marogossian, and Susan Lee competed in the spelling bee finals at the district's offices Monday night. The district's four middle schools each chose their best spellers in school spelling bees. Those four students went on to the district finals.

Students representing Glendale Unified School District's 20 elementary schools faced off in the district's annual spelling bee finals Monday night. Wasseem Hamadani, a sixth-grader at Balboa Elementary, was the defending champion against 19 other fifth- and sixth-graders from across the district. The district's director of curriculum and instruction, Joel Shapiro, served as pronouncer and coordinators of Project 17 and Gifted and Talented Education, Janet Buhl and Christine Hoehner-m served as judges in the competition.

Ryan Carter Roosevelt Middle School students Johaina Crisostomo and her sister, Nikiya, did more than help win the 27th annual Middle Schools Spelling Bee championship for their team. They made first and second place a family affair. Johaina, 13, took first place and Nikiya, 12, placed second in the bee, which pitted their four-member Roosevelt team against four-member teams from Toll, Wilson and Rosemont middle schools. The members of the Roosevelt team represented the top four finishers.

The spelling bee has gone versatile. Students at Mountain Avenue Elementary School competed in seven rounds of a geography bee Wednesday. Two representatives from each fourth- through sixth-grade classroom took turns answering on-the-spot questions about U.S. and world geography, cities, continents, physical geography and the geography of culturally important places. Fifth-grader Divya Goel emerged the school champ- ion, with sixth-grader Brendan Luckey placing second and fourth-grader Kyle Eschen placing third.

Tim Willert NORTHWEST GLENDALE -- Soroptimist International of Glendale presented checks totaling $10,000 to 14 local organizations at its annual service awards luncheon Thursday at the Hilton Glendale. The Foundation for the Junior Blind, the Glendale Public Library, the Clothesline domestic violence project, and the New Horizons Family Center were among those recognized for their service to the community. With the money, the Glendale Assn. for the Retarded will buy a new washing machine.

Alecia Foster NORTHWEST GLENDALE -- After a few days of intense competition and a few more of sightseeing, Mariam Firunts was expected to return home today. The Toll Middle School eighth-grader traveled to Washington, D.C. last week to compete against 248 students in the 74th annual Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee. Firunts was knocked out of the competition during the third round when she was asked to spell the word "ritardando." Nevertheless, she kept an optimistic attitude toward the whole thing.

Alecia Foster NORTHEAST GLENDALE -- "Thesis." "I was laughing when I heard that word," said Vanessa Molano, a sixth-grader at R.D. White Elementary School. Molano recognized it from a sound clip she and her friend had heard on a Web site. And she knew how to spell it. With the correct spelling of the word, Molano became the first student from R.D. White Elementary to win the Districtwide Elementary Spelling Bee in the competition's 25-year history, school officials said.

Judy Seckler WASHINGTON D.C. -- Some 248 kids from all over the 50 states journeyed to Washington, D.C., Wednesday for the preliminary round of the National Spelling Bee, and Glendale was there. The Jewel City was represented by Mariam Firunts, a 13-year-old Toll Middle School student and Southern California Spelling champion. Mariam, 13, began her day of competition at 8 a.m. among 120 contestants. , was eliminated in the third round among 55 contestants.

Judy Seckler DOWNTOWN -- The word "soliloquy" was No. 135 on the list and it stopped the school district spelling bee cold -- 45 minutes into the competition. The incident happened during the Glendale Unified School District's spelling bee at district headquarters. When a student was asked to spell the word, she told district officials the word was not on the study list she had received. Some audience members thought it was a joke. However, district spokesman Vic Pallos and other officials took the news seriously enough to stop the competition.