Sacred Hearts Academy hosted the Honolulu District Spelling Bee on Jan. 28 where Academy sixth graders Natasha Bandack and Celine Arnobit participated in the competition against 30 contestants from 15 Honolulu area schools.

Middle school students had prepared for the bee since November. They had a month to prepare before class spelling bees in December.

Then, sixth, seventh and eighth graders competed against each other to determine the school’s top two winners. Bandack and Arnobit bested the others in the competition. Arnobit was the winner of the Academy’s spelling bee.

“My students Celine Arnobit and Natasha Bandack beat the seventh and eighth graders to represent the school,” said Rachelle Ricardo, sixth grade Language Arts teacher. “This was the first time an all-sixth grade team went to the district Bee.”

Before the Honolulu district competition, the two students spent three days a week at lunch practicing for the bee with Ricardo.

“During our practices we would try to go over as many words as possible. As the competition came closer, we got more nervous,” said Arnobit.

“In the competition we felt nervous competing against older kids, but we got a confidence boost every round we survived in the spelling bee,” said Bandack.

Arnobit and Bandack’s success in the district competition was the best Academy students have ever had. They went the furthest in any Bee competitions and they were among the youngest competitors in the final rounds.

Bandack was eliminated from the top ten while Arnobit was second runner-up for the Honolulu District.Si