Becton’s National Honor Society put up a long and hard fight against Rutherford High School in the November 26 NHS Spelling Bee after failing to properly spell the word ukulele.

One of the hardest words in the bee was Ecclesiastes, with one of the easiest being neither.

The spelling bee took place in the Becton Performing Arts Center and was put together by the National Honor Society adviser, Mrs. Colangelo, with the assistance of English Teacher Mr.Shin who announced the spelling words and English Department Chairperson Mrs. Cannarozzi. The 20 representatives for Becton were hand selected by the English teachers to take on the competition.

“You would be surprised at how much work goes into hosting the spelling bee,” said Mrs. Colangelo. “We have to coordinate the breakfast and set up the BPAC, with the help of the custodial staff of course. Everyone is assigned a job. We also practice two weeks prior to the bee at 7:40a.m. every day in my room.” She noted that the list of words they practice with is not the list used in the actual event.

“I was asked [to read the list of words] by Mrs. Cannarozzi, and we used a couple of prep periods to prepare. This is my first year as the reader. Prior to this, I’ve served as a judge in a public speaking competition, but that’s about it,” shared Mr. Shin.

The bee started around 10 a.m. and lasted a little over one hour. Becton teachers were granted permission to bring their classes down to observe.

“I really liked watching the spelling bee take place. I was stumped on a few words myself. It’s a shame we lost. There’s always next year though,” commented Senior John Cobo after watching the crushing loss.

Despite giving up the trophy, Mrs. Cannarozzi remained positive. “One should always know how to spell. What happens if you have to handwrite something? Spell check isn’t always correct, and it isn’t always there to use.” She then continued, “To be a well-rounded, educated, person, you should know how to spell…I believe spell check has left us all a bit lazy.”