Students face off in annual 19th Ward Spelling Bee

ROCHESTER, N.Y. The University of Rochester hosted a spelling bee for RCSD students Saturday.

It’s the 14th year the 19th Ward Community Association has held the annual event. It’s to help improve the academic growth of public school students. Kids in grades third through eighth got the chance to compete in the spelling bee, and the winners in each grade got a $500 scholarship to a college or trade school.

“We try to engage with the community and introduce and show the benefits of the resources that are provided in the area for academics,” organizer Nicholas Dapshi said. “We want them to be involved in as much as they can and show them academics are a great thing to have.”

The event was put on by the university’s Sigma Phi Epsilon Fraternity.