If you ask School 23 5th grader Leandro P.  to spell “success,” don’t be surprised to hear the letters m-o-s-q-u-i-t-o, which he gave in the correct order to win the 55th annual Citywide Fifth Grade Spelling Bee at Saunders Trades & Technical High School, Monday, June 3, 2019.

Right on his heels were second place winner Lara C. from Cross Hill Academy, and in a nail-biting tie for third place, Yaw A. from Rosemarie Ann Siragusa School, and Mia G.  from PEARLS Hawthorne School.

Sponsored by the Exchange Club of Yonkers, the Fifth Grade Spelling Bee has been a Yonkers tradition for 55 years, involving thousands of children in classroom and schoolwide elimination contests as they move up to the Citywide Finals. This year, 80 students from the city's public, non-public, and charter schools participated in the contests.

The pronouncer for the spelling bee was Dr. Jane Dorian, who retired as Director of ELA & Reading for the Yonkers Public Schools.

The judges were:

• Michael Ashraf
  Exchange Club of Yonkers
• Dawn Bartz
  Director of Social Studies
• Jennifer Coggio
  Director of Early Childhood Education
• Jordan Gonzalez
  Director of Language Acquisition
• Carmela A. Valente
  Director of ELA/Title

Thank you to our registrars:

• Claire Calvi
• Andrea Carney
• Joan DeLuca
• Rosemarie Friedman
• AnnaMaria Ruggiere