Bridgewater Students To Compete In County Spelling Bee

BRIDGEWATER, NJ — A total of 15 Bridgewater and 2 Raritan students were among those selected to compete in Somerset County Library System of New Jersey's second annual Bee Spectacular County Spelling Bee.

The county-wide spelling bee is for children grades 3-8 and will be held on Saturday, March 11 at 2 p.m. at Somerset County Vocational and Technical High School, located at 14 Vogt Drive in Bridgewater. All are welcome to attend.

Local schools held their own spelling bees through January. The first and second place winners will compete in SCLSNJ’s Bee Spectacular County Spelling Bee. The winner will be eligible to represent Somerset County at the 2017 Scripps National Spelling Bee on May 28 in the Washington, D.C. area. SCLSNJ is an official sponsor of the Scripps National Spelling Bee.

List of students participating (information appears as placard number for spelling bee, child’s first name, child’s last name, child’s grade, school child attends, hometown):

1. Tejas Somasekar: Grade 3, Adamsville Elementary School, Bridgewater
2. Aditya Kulkarni: Grade 3, Adamsville Elementary School, Bridgewater
3. Rhea Patel: Grade 4, Bayberry School, Watchung
4. Isabella Thomas: Grade 4, Bayberry School, Watchung
5. Jeffrey Pravin: Grade 3, Bradley Gardens Elementary School, Bridgewater
6. Matthew Atienza: Grade 3, Bradley Gardens Elementary School, Bridgewater
7. Andrew DeAngelis: Grade 6, Branchburg Central Middle School, Branchburg
8. Rishi Purohit: Grade 6, Branchburg Central Middle School, Branchburg
9. Aarsha Shah: Grade 7, Bridgewater-Raritan Regional Middle School, Bridgewater
10. Matthew Quispe: Grade 8, Bridgewater-Raritan Regional Middle School, Bridgewater
11. Susan Lee : Grade 8, homeschool, Bedminster
12. Andie Zhou: Grade 6, homeschool, Somerset
13. Anush Polamraju: Grade 6, Cedar Hill Preparatory School, Somerset
14. Yuvna Musuku: Grade 6, Cedar Hill Preparatory School, Somerset
15. Sanjana Bandi: Grade 6, Central Jersey College Preparatory Charter School, North Brunswick
16. Matthew DaGraca: Grade 3, Crim Elementary School, Bridgewater
17. Noah John: Grade 3, Crim Elementary School, Bridgewater
18. Maryann Opida: Grade 6, Eisenhower Intermediate School, Raritan
19. Samrita Ravinder: Grade 6, Eisenhower Intermediate School, Raritan
20. Jacob Neptune: Grade 7, Far Hills Country Day School, Far Hills
21. Matthew Kolakowski: Grade 6, Far Hills Country Day School, Bridgewater
22. Dhruvi Mehta: Grade 7, Franklin Middle School, Princeton
23. Franklin Lu: Grade 7, Franklin Middle School, Somerset
24. Anmol Bhatia: Grade 6, Green Brook Middle School, Green Brook
25. Talia Hooke: Grade 8, Green Brook Middle School, Green Brook
26. Ronak Hunashimarad: Grade 3, Hamilton Elementary School, Bridgewater
27. Hriday Narang: Grade 3, Hamilton Elementary School, Bridgewater
28. Mithil Mouli: Grade 5, Hillside Intermediate School, Bridgewater
29. Jiya Mody: Grade 6, Hillside Intermediate School, Martinsville
30. Tara Khosla: Grade 6, Immaculate Conception School, Hillsborough
31. Andre Rivera: Grade 5, Immaculate Conception School, Bridgewater
32. Rohan Athreya: Grade 6, Montgomery Lower Middle School, Belle Mead
33. Isha Korgaonkar: Grade 5, Montgomery Lower Middle School, Princeton
34. Sanjana Venkatesh: Grade 7, Montgomery Upper Middle School, Belle Mead
35. Mia Kung: Grade 8, Montgomery Upper Middle School, Skillman
36. Sari Estomata: Grade 6, School Of Saint Elizabeth, Bound Brook
37. Katie Lane: Grade 5, School Of Saint Elizabeth, Basking Ridge
38. Vaishvik Vidavalapati: Grade 4, Thomas Edison Energysmart Charter School, Somerset
39. Dharani Moorthy: Grade 6, Thomas Edison Energysmart Charter School, Somerset
40. Marshall White: Grade 8, Valley View School, Watchung
41. Wesley Tseng: Grade 8, Valley View School, Watchung
42. Mihir Joseph: Grade 4, Van Holten Elementary School, Bridgewater
43. Briana Popescu: Grade 4, Van Holten Elementary School, Bridgewater
44. Andrew Shi: Grade 7, Warren Middle School, Warren
45. Zoe Wang: Grade 7, Warren Middle School, Warren
46. Ria Chandola: Grade 4, Woods Road Elementary School, Hillsborough
47. Sara Newalkar: Grade 4, Woods Road Elementary School, Hillsborough
48. Vera Goliyad: Grade 4, Irene E. Feldkirchner Elementary School, Green Brook
49. TingTing Luo: Grade 3, Irene E. Feldkirchner Elementary School, Green Brook

To help the community get to know some of Somerset County’s top spellers, they shared their favorite words:

• Anush Polamraju: pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis (which is sometimes cited as one of the longest words in the English language);
• Tejas Somasekar and Aditya Kulkarni: interminableness;
• Susan Lee: tintinnabulation;
• Mihir Joseph: supererogation;
• Matthew Kolakowski and Anmol Bhatia: prestidigitation;
• Sara Newalkar: kerfuffle; and
• Zoe Wang: eleemosynary.

Emcee for the evening will be Michael Kerwin, president of Somerset County Business Partnership. Pronouncer will be Brian K. Auger, SCLSNJ county library administrator.

Judges for the evening will be:

• Head Judge: Patricia Walsh, Somerset County Freehold member
• Dictionary Judge: Corrine Fender, SCLSNJ Library Commission member
• Rounds & Records Judge: Chris Corsini, SCLSNJ Library Commission chairman
• Appeals Judge: Elias Ezra, Bridgewater Bound Brook Rotary president

Special thanks to SCLSNJ’s 2017 Bee Spectacular sponsors: Carol's Creative Chocolatez of Somerville; Arcaro Award Gallery, Inc. of Raritan; Somerset County Vocational & Technical High School of Bridgewater; Rotary Club of Branchburg; Rotary Club of Bridgewater/Bound Brook; Rotary Club of Montgomery/Rocky Hill; the Friends of the Bridgewater Library; and the Friends of the Mary Jacobs Memorial Library.

For more information about SCLSNJ’s Bee Spectacular, contact spellingbee@sclibnj.org or at 908-801-6465.

(Photo provided: On Feb. 28, Somerset County Freeholder Director Peter Palmer (right) presented SCLSNJ County Library Administrator Brian Auger (left) with a proclamation declaring March 11, 2017 Scripps Spelling Bee Day in Somerset County. On March 11, 49 Somerset County students will vie for the title of Spelling Champ and to win the opportunity to represent Somerset County at the 2017 Scripps National Spelling Bee in May.)

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