Bologna For the Win! Manchester’s Jake Krzyzaniak is the 8th Grade SEMMLAA 2013-2014 Spelling Bee Champion
Jake Krzyzaniak is the 8th grade winner of the SEMMLAA spelling bee.
Manchester’s own Jake Krzyzaniak won the 8th grade SEMMLAA spelling bee which was held on Saturday, November 16th at the Mill Creek Middle School in Dexter.
This year approximately forty-five 8th graders from Chelsea, Dexter, Lincoln, Milan, Manchester, Pinckney, Saline, and Tecumseh competed in the spelling bee.
The event is organized by the Southeast Michigan Middle Level Administrators Association (SEMMLAA). Manchester Middle School’s PTSA sponsors the event for the Manchester students.
Manchester participation was light this year. Autumn Orta, the PTSA representative who organized the event for the middle school indicated, “We originally had 9 students signed up to attend this year, but with it falling on Christmas in the Village and the first weekend of (hunting) season, we lost a few students. I ended up having 4 in attendance.”
Alex Tistle and Colin Hovater represented the 5th/6th grade group. Fallon Cable was the sole 7th grader, and Jake Krzyzaniak was the sole 8th grader.
This is the second time participating in the spelling bee for Jake. Jake became interested in the spelling bee because he thought it was something that he would enjoy and viewed it as an opportunity to get get to know students from other schools. He also thought that since he placed third last year, this year just might be his year to enjoy the limelight.
Students participated in a practice round, and then the competition began. If a student spelled a word wrong, they were eliminated. There were no second chances. Students were able to ask for the word to be used in a sentence or ask for the definition. They were able to repeat themselves, as long as they repeated the spelling exactly the same as the first time.
Jake’s competition lasted only 45 minutes. There were seven rounds in all. By the final round, only Jake and a boy from Lincoln were left. Jake missed “mistletoe”. The Lincoln student was able to spell it correctly, but missed his own word “trinomial”. Jake was able to spell trinomial correctly and then spelled his own word “bologna” for the win.
Jake’s mom used to sing the Oscar Meyer song to him as a child. He said, “I didn’t know what it was and it annoyed the heck out of me. But now, I can thank her for it!”
Jake was also eager to thank Mrs. Tindall and Mr. Fether “because they taught me trinomials last year.”
In preparation for the spelling bee, Mrs. Orta had given Jake a list of words to practice. When it came time to head to the spelling bee, he had uploaded the words onto his IPad and studied them all the way to the school. It paid off. Over the course of the competition, Jake correctly spelled the words: Zoological, arsenic, optically, molasses, mistletoe, trinomial, and bologna.
Jake also wanted to thank his dad for taking him to the spelling be. “It was a great experience for me.”
As for his dad, he was a proud papa. He said, “My wife and I feel just wonderful and very proud of him. It’s something that he’s really enjoyed and we just wanted to make it a positive experience for him.”
Southeast Michigan Middle Level Administrators Association (SEMMLAA) includes the districts of Chelsea, Dexter, Lincoln, Milan, Manchester, Pinckney, Saline, Tecumseh. As an organization, it hosts a spelling bee, quiz bowl competition, leadership day, secretary luncheon, and 8th grade honors night.
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