Clarke student competes in LI Spelling Bee finals

Ganesh Ravichandran, a W.T. Clarke Middle School eighth-grader, was among the letter literate students from public, private and religious day schools of all faiths across Long Island who recently competed in the Long Island finals of the annual Scripps Howard News Service Spelling Bee, sponsored by Long Island Jewish World in cooperation with Sterling and Sterling Insurance Company. Contributing sponsors included Knockout Pest Control, All Car Rent-a-Car and the legal firm Swartz & Swartz.

All students who participated, from grades 4-8, were challenged to stand and spell words such as docility, fizgig and langlauf. The 24 finalists were selected from a group of 105 students based on a written test administered earlier this winter. Long Island winner Casey Durant of New Hyde Park, an 8th grader at New Hyde Park Memorial Junior-Senior High School, will go on to the Scripps Howard 82nd Annual National Spelling Bee in Washington DC June 2-4.