Homer Glen girl wins Will County Spelling Bee
BY JAIME ANGIO Correspondent March 7, 2013 10:22PM
Updated: April 9, 2013 12:02PM
I-M-P-E-R-C-E-P-T-I-B-L-E. Imperceptible.
That’s the word that enabled a Homer Junior High School student from Homer Glen to win the annual Will County Spelling Bee Thursday night at the Lewis University Field House in Romeoville.
Nearly 50 students from Will County public and private schools competed. After 26 rounds, Meghana Kamineni, 12, a seventh grader at the school, correctly spelled imperceptible (which means impossible to perceive) — ending the tense atmosphere of the final rounds as the field came down to two.
Meghana’s victory means that she will go on to the 86th annual Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C., from May 26 to June 1.
Meghana was thrilled to win but admitted that she hadn’t practiced for the bee as much as she could have.
“I started studying and cramming two weeks ago,” she said. “I was nervous all day long because I know I didn’t study.”
She thanked her family for helping her prepare for the contest.
“They would quiz me and help me and look up definitions for me during the two weeks, and they gave me a lot of support,” Meghana said, adding that she’s looking forward to visiting the nation’s capital for the first time.
“It will be a whole new experience,” she said.
In addition to qualifying for the national bee, Meghana won a one-year subscription to Britannica Online for Kids, Webster’s Third New International Dictionary Unabridged, a 2013 U.S. Mint Proof Set, a Nook Simple Touch and $100 gift card from Barnes and Noble donated by the Will County Regional Office of Education.
Taking second place was Jack Zinsky, an eighth grader at Summit Hill Junior High School in Frankfort Square. He received Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, a Nook Simple Touch Nook and a $100 gift card from Barnes and Noble.
Finishing third was Micaela Beck, an eighth grader at St. Joseph School in Manhattan who got a Nook Simple Touch and a $50 gift card to Barnes and Noble.
Larry Wiers, director of school partnerships for Lewis University’s College of Education, presented the awards. The college is a co-sponsor of the spelling bee along with ComEd and the county’s regional education office.
