McKnight Student Places in State Spelling Bee

Nate Ackerman won 3rd place in the annual NJ State Spelling Bee for 4th and 5th graders Saturday, March 9. Nate is a 5th grader at Ethel C. McKnight Elementary School.  

The annual contest is sponsored by the New Jersey State Federation of Women’s Clubs of GFWC – Junior Membership. The State Bee pitted 18 of the state’s top spellers against each other at the Federation’s headquarters in New Brunswick, NJ.

Getting to the state competition required hard work, studying, and confidence. The event started with nearly 1,500 students from across the state. Nate won 1st place in the Hightstown-East Windsor District Spelling Bee. Getting into the district competition as the ninth alternate, Nate got the practice list only a day ahead of the actual Bee. He found his groove early, though, and outlasted 55 students. He won on the word “materialize.”

From there the road got tougher as the top-three finishers from eight districts moved on to the Regional level, held in Kearney on Feb 23, 2013. Battling with 23 other top spellers in the region, Nate came in fourth to move on to the state tournament (top six advanced). The final was a challenge for even the best spellers in the age group, but Nate stayed calm and focused throughout to finish with the third-place trophy!

The Board of Education for the East Windsor Regional School District recognized Nate Ackerman for this accomplishment at their April 15 meeting.