Ian Muita spells a word during the Newark City Schools Middle School Spelling Bee on Friday morning at Liberty Middle School in Newark. Muita, a seventh grader at Liberty, won. (Matthew Berry, The Advocate)
By L.B Whyde
NEWARK — Twenty-five middle school students started, but only three remained at the end of the seventh round of the middle school spelling bee Friday at Liberty Middle School.
The winner after the final round was Liberty seventh-grader Ian Muita, 13.
With words such as “femininity” and “triumvirate” knocking out students ahead of him, Muita had the luck of the draw and had to spell “confidence” to gain first place.
But it took three more rounds to determine the second- and third-place finishers.
The students went through all the eighth-grade lists and challenge words and in the final round went on to even more difficult words. While “popularity,” “diary” and “humble” were simple for eighth-grade contestants Josh Abrams and Liz Dysart, they then received “soliloquy” and “efficacy.”
Abrams, of Wilson Middle School, came in second after spelling “pernicious,” meaning exceeding harmful or deadly.
Muita said he wants to attend Harvard to study physics.
“I knew I would win because I am really good at it,” Muita said. “I didn’t study much; it’s a natural ability.”
Dysart, of Liberty, came in third.
“I hope I’m never in another spelling bee,” he said with a laugh.
Abrams likes to participate in spelling bees after his first one last year, when he placed sixth.
“I have no idea what ‘soliloquy’ means,” Abrams said. “I’m a great student in school, and I thought being a good speller would be important.”
Newark City Schools Curriculum Director Dana Herreman pronounced the words during the bee. Eight sixth-graders, 10 seventh-graders and seven eighth-graders participated.
Source: Newark Advocate
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