Valley View Students Perform Well at Will County Spelling Bee

Submitted by Valley View School District 365U

Two Valley View School District 365U students finished in the top 15 at Thursday night’s Will County Middle School Spelling Bee at Lockport East High School.

Humphrey Middle School 7th grader Samantha Welko wound up in a tie for 8th by correctly spelling such words as totem, access, enthusiasm, proofread and applicant before missing on “flamingo” in the 7th round.

Lukancic Middle School 8th grader Arta Osmani, who finished in the top five in the county last year, tied for 14th this year. She was perfect on cockatoo, Islamic, cruller, palmetto and consent, but went out in the 6th round on “escrow.”

Three other VVSD students were among the 46 spellers from around the county who were seeking a trip to the National Spelling Bee in Washington.

Brooks Middle School 8th grader Simran Sanghera and Jane Addams Middle School 8th grader Akilah Essex tied for 16th, going out in the 4th round. Sanghera correctly spelled condor, windily and tatami before missing on “croquette.” Essex was OK on elite, fatigue and jaguar but was wrong on “semantics.”

Martinez Middle School 8th grader Abdullah Shoaib finished in a tie for 22nd by getting bandit and hyphen right before missing “persimmon” in the 3rd round.