Scripps National Spelling Bee is in full swing. The purpose of the Spelling Bee is to help students improve their spelling, increase their vocabularies, learn concepts, and develop correct English usage that will help students throughout their lives.

On January 19th, 7th grader Sean Harnik became St. Joseph School’s Spelling Bee champ after competing against nine 4th-8th grade competitors. Individual classroom Bees brought semifinalists together on stage.

Harnik’s winning word was “judicious”. Harnik studied for the competition with friend and classmate Matt Metzler, who was also in the competition. "I was nervous my first time up, but it felt good to spell correctly on stage," said Metzler, who admits that he is not big on being in front of large groups. "It was really cool to see Sean do so well in the competition." Metzler added that he felt 5th grader, Ethan Lamoureaux was strong in the competition. "He had some really hard words; he did really well."

Lamoureaux was runner-up in the competition, who admitted spelling is not his favorite subject, yet this is his second appearance in two years in this school-wide competition, having reached the fifth round last year. “I was sort of nervous, but it was fun to be up there.” Also competing were gr 4 Ann Edwards & Monica Oleski, gr 5 Kileen Dietrich, gr 6 Fiona Kelly & Elisabeth Vlasak, gr 7 Matt Metzler, and gr 8 Sean Byrne & Sarena Martinez.

Harnik’s semifinalist appearances in scholastic Bee competitions include a 4th grade Spelling Bee and the more recent seventh grade Geography Bee semifinal. After taking the school championship, Harnik went on to represent St. Joseph School at the DuPage County Regional Private-School Competition on Wednesday, February 3rd. Held at Timothy Christian School, 188 W. Butterfield Rd., Elmhurst, the school hosted 18 finalists from private school in DuPage County. Harnik stood strong for St. Joseph School, making it through 8 of the 11 rounds, as the competition narrowed itself down to three finalists.

Illinois' Regional Bees involve all public, private and home school students in the city of Chicago and suburban nine county region (Cook, DuPage, DeKalb, Grundy, Kane, Kendall, Lake, McHenry and Will). Over one million students and 5,000 schools participate in the regional competition in Chicagoland. Competition is open to kindergarten through eighth grade students in most counties.

The 2009 Scripps National Spelling Bee will be held in Washington, D.C. on June 2-4, 2010.