Nikhita Mudium Wins Rall Elementary Spelling Bee

Students at William Rall Elementary School in the Lindenhurst School District recently participated in the school-based round of the Scripps National Spelling Bee. 

Fifth-grader Nikhita Mudium won first place in the William Rall competition and will compete at the regional level at Hofstra University in February. The runner-up was fourth-grader Charlette Menacho.

To prepare for individual classroom spelling bees, students were provided with words to study at home. Two winners from each class participated in the schoolwide bee. This year, for the first time in the 86-year history of the spelling bee, the evaluation of vocabulary knowledge was incorporated as an element of the competition.

The district thanks reading specialist Marcy Miller, who coordinated the event, and this year’s judges, Sheila Ducos, Eileen Nieves and Gina Riccuiti.

This year’s fourth- and fifth-grade spelling bee participants were: Joseph Andrews, Nicholas Antos, Frank Catania, Nicholas Commisso, Eric Dunn, Kenneth Fajardo, Jenna Fieldsa, Jaelyn Gunter, Elizabeth Ihm, Samadine Jeudy, Marydalia Jimenez, Isabel Kusek, Charlette Menacho, Cicely Meza, Shannon Miller, Dillon Monroe, Nikhita Mudium, Nico Orlando, Tyanna Tyndall, Shanjeda Uddin and Jack Winey.