Spelling Bee Stars Have Borough Abuzz

Three Collingswood students have the borough buzzing.

On Wednesday, Jan. 11, Collingswood Junior Womens' Club hosted its annual spelling bee at , and congratulated first place winner Alexis Fitzpatrick; second place winner Jasmin Barrett; and third place winner Jalen Flores.

The annual bee featured fourth- through fifth-graders of not only , but private school students as well.

Overall winner Alexis Fitzpatrick hails from ; while second and third place winners Jasmin Barrett and Jalen Flores are students of and , respectively.

In addition to the aforementioned borough schools, spellers from , , and participated in the bee.

A total of 12 local spellers took turns debuting their verbal skills, including Catherine Abacon; Carlee Aversa; Caliph Bangura; Jasmin Barrett; Quinn Basewitz; Alexis Fitzpatrick; Jalen Flores; Alex Margot; Hank Piper; Erika Smith; Victor Vasquez; and Dan Walton.

According to Collingswood Junior Womens' Club members, the event's three winning spellers will move on to compete in a district spelling bee at the Haddon Fortnightly Club, in Haddonfield, on Suday, Feb. 12.

In the event of snow or inclement weather, the district bee will be moved to Sunday, Feb. 19.

The top three spellers from the district bee will then advance to the Junior Womens' Club State Spelling Bee, scheduled for March 10, 2012, at the New Jersey State Federation of Women's Clubs (NJSFWC) headquarters in New Brunswick.

In the event of snow or other inclement weather, the state-level spelling bee will be rescheduled for March 11, 2012.

Congratulations to all 12 Collingswood spellers, and good luck to our three students advancing to the district bee next month!