For many years, the members of the Knights of Columbus Madonna Maria Council, of Saint Joseph Catholic Church in Sea Isle City, have hosted a Spelling Bee for local eighth graders.
Following the cancellation of the competition in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Knights’ Spelling Bee resumed this year on Feb. 24 inside the Saint Joseph parish auditorium, where 19 students from Bishop McHugh Regional Catholic School and Woodbine Elementary School competed for cash prizes.
In the end, following 16 rounds of competition that included increasingly difficult words, three students from Bishop McHugh School took home the event’s top honors.
Khushbu Pandya, of Ocean View, won the first place prize of $250 after successfully spelling the winning word “dispensation.” Khushbu was followed by Benjamin Harczak, of Cape May, who won the second place prize of $150, and Annabelle Robine, of Petersburg, who received $100 for finishing in third place.
Traditionally, only the first-place winner would advance to the Diocese of Camden’s Spelling Bee finals later in the year.
However, according to Knight Mike Jargowsky, who served as the moderator, this year’s first, second and third place winners have been invited to participate in the diocesan competition, which will take place in the spring.
“This year was tied for the highest number of contestants we ever had in our parish spelling bee, and we also had many audience members cheering them on. In fact, we had to add more seats prior to the start of the bee because so many people showed up,” explained Jargowsky, a Sea Isle native who has been a Knight of Columbus for the past two decades. “The event was sorely missed during the pandemic; and afterwards parents told us that the kids had a ton of fun and that it was very nice to get back to a sense of normalcy.”
In addition to having many people in attendance, the Spelling Bee was also very exciting to watch.
“It was one of the most competitive bees we ever hosted, and the majority of the students made it through most of the rounds,” Jargowsky said. “It was a close race right to the end, and everyone seemed to have a very good time.”
At the conclusion of the spelling bee, the Knights treated all of the students and their families to a pizza party, where young and old alike enjoyed the opportunity to reconnect after many months of wearing facemasks and practicing social distancing.
To learn more about the Knights of Columbus Madonna Maria Council, contact Grand Knight Ed McFadden at 215-300-0561 or mcfaddene1@comcast.net.
