4 U-CF students aim for a winning spell

Posted by Press Release on February 4, 2015

Who is Chester County’s top speller? That question will be answered on Monday, Feb. 9 at the 2015 Chester County Spelling Bee, during which 53 students will compete.

Four students from the Unionville-Chadds Ford School District will be vying for acclaim: Andy Li from Chadds Ford Elementary School, Sebastian Graper from Charles F. Patton Middle School, Arnab Sircar from Hillendale Elementary School, and Ibraheem Qureshi from Pocopson Elementary.

The competition, which begins at 9 a.m., will be streamed live on CCiTV and is a qualifying bee for the Scripps National Spelling Bee. It will be held at the Chester County Intermediate Unit’s Educational Service Center (Entrance B), located at 455 Boot Rd., Downingtown.

The Chester County Spelling Bee, coordinated by the Chester County Intermediate Unit (CCIU), is open to all students enrolled in a Chester County public, private, parochial or home school in any grade up to and including grade eight, and who has not reached their 15^th birthday on or before Aug. 31, 2014.

According to Ashley Boyd, CCIU special events coordinator, each participating school is able to send one student to the Chester County bee who meets the age and grade requirements.

“Each of the participants is the winner from his or her school’s local spelling bee, and each school is permitted to determine its own qualifying structure for its entrant provided it follows the eligibility requirements,” added Boyd.

The last student standing on stage on Feb. 9 will have earned a trip for two to Washington, D.C. to compete in the Scripps National Spelling Bee and Bee Week. The champion will also receive: the Samuel Louis Sugarman award certificate for a 2015 United States Mint Proof Set; Webster’s Third New International Dictionary; and a one year subscription to Encyclopedia Britannica Online.

The 2015 Chester County Spelling Bee will be streamed live over the Internet via CCiTV at ccitv.cciu.org. In the event of inclement weather, the snow date is Tuesday, Feb. 17. For more information, visit www.cciu.org/SpellingBee or contact Ashley Boyd at 484-237-5053.