Rosarian Fifth Grader M.J. Hanlon Takes First In School Spelling Bee

The Rosarian Academy held its school-level competition of the 2016 Scripps Spelling Bee on Jan. 28. Twenty-two students in grades five through eight competed in the event. After seven rounds, M.J. Hanlon (fifth grade) and Hope Diffenderfer (seventh grade) fought back and forth for the championship title.

As one of the youngest students in the competition, Hanlon won with the championship word “applicable.” Hanlon and Diffenderfer will both represent Rosarian at the Regional Spelling Bee on Feb. 23 at the Benjamin School.

The Spelling Bee participants included: fifth-grade students Sabrina Bernstein, M.J. Hanlon, Caleb Miller, Liam Landers, Nick Scully and Parker Ward; sixth-grade students Brandon Dorsey, Blair Haft, Delaney Groth, Joseph Coates, Finn Throop and Georgia Blumel; seventh-grade students Javier Keough, Johnny Molina, Hope Diffenderfer, Gabriela Faber and Devyn Dyett; and eighth-grade students Victoria Skivington, Meredith Anderson, Peter Fields, Charlotte Breckenridge and James Cinque.

ABOVE: Rosarian Spelling Bee winner M.J. Hanlon.