Humnaa Abid (right) and Katelyn DiLorenzo (left) are set to compete in the Long Island Regional Spelling Bee after finishing first and second, respectively, in the school’s competition on Dec. 19.

Twenty-seven Locust Valley Middle School students competed in the school spelling bee in front of their friends and family in the MS/HS auditorium on the morning of Dec. 19. Humnaa Abid took first place, clinching the school title on the word “Leander.” Katelyn DiLorenzo finished in second and will join Abid in the regional level competition the ScholarSkills Long Island Spelling Bee.           

Students from sixth to eighth grade qualified by winning their classroom spelling bees and did their classes proud by navigating around a dozen rounds of challenging words.

Abid and DiLorenzo, both eighth graders, will participate in the first round of the Long Island Regional Spelling Bee, which is a written spelling and vocabulary contest administered by ScholarSkills officials via Zoom, in February. Students with the top scores will proceed to the second and final round in March.