For the first time this year, all 320 students from Democracy Prep Endurance Middle School gathered together in the auditorium for Town Hall. That’s because it wasn’t just any Town Hall. Friday, November 13th was the DPE school-wide spelling bee!

Margaret Marrer, Executive Director of DPE, set the expectations for the audience and then invited the competitors up to the stage to take their places. Each scholar was allowed a practice question to get a feel for the format, and then it was time for the competition to begin!

Scholars stood in line patiently as their classmates spelled challenging words such as “paragon” and “mundane”. A few scholars were caught off guard with especially tricky words, like “polemic” and “query,” and after two rounds there were only nine scholars left standing, a handful from each grade.

The spelling words became progressively harder (jurisdiction, augment, languish) until only three finalists remained: eighth graders Justice P. and Migdalia Q., and seventh grader Oliver O. Justice attempted “soiree” and Migdalia gave “effusive” her best shot, but after both misspelled their words, it was down to Oliver. “If Oliver spells this next word right, he will be the winner!” announced Ms. Marrer.

Ms. Katie Williamson, DPE Campus Director, relayed the final spelling word – “impervious”. With almost no hesitation, Oliver started in: “I-M-P-E-R-V-I-O-U-S!” The crowd went wild with snaps and cheers as Oliver jumped off the stage, champion of the 2015 DPE spelling bee.

Oliver will go on to represent DPE at the New York City District Finals! Good luck Oliver!