It wasn’t until the final around of this year’s Sachem Spelling Bee that the audience began to feel the tension on stage as two of the top 24 fifth-grade spellers from 12 elementary schools went head-to-head at Gatelot Avenue Elementary School on Wednesday afternoon.
Tamarac’s Joseph Dachinger and Nokomis’ Anika Banerjee rattled off words like incessant, venomous and acquainted before the pressure rose. Dachinger was caught up with the word “untenable,” but Banerjee spelt “archeology” wrong to progress the final round.
After Banerjee spelt “impetuous” wrong,” Dachinger handled it correctly and finished off the competition by spelling “anarchy” to win it all.
Dachinger, who said he studied for more than a week for this competition, said he was lucky when Banerjee misspelled impetuous so he would have an opportunity to win.
Once Gatelot Principal Denise Kleinman read off “anarchy,” Dachinger knew he clinched a victory.
“I was thinking I know this word,” he said, “I’m going to win.”
Dachinger credits studying with his parents and repetitively writing out words “a ton of times” at home in preparation for this competition, which lasted a little under an hour in length.
(Official release of Sachem Central School District)