Mira Yu and Nicla Marabito, both students from the North End, finished first and second in the recent Boston Center for Youth and Families (BCYF) Citywide Spelling Bee, sponsored by the Boston Bruins Foundation.
Mira, age 12, is a seventh grade student at Boston Latin School. She took first place and will go on to the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, DC in May. Nicla (age 10), a fifth grade student at the Eliot School, captured second place.
Over 3,000 young people participated in the Boston Public and parochial school bees to qualify for the BCYF Citywide Bee. The Bee went eleven rounds plus four final rounds before the championship round. Yu won by spelling “crescendo” correctly.
“It was an amazing day and I did not expect to win,” Yu said. “I am daunted by the thought of the National Bee, but I am going to continue to study.”
The winner received a dictionary, $100 savings bond and a trophy. Second place winner received a Barnes & Noble gift card and a trophy. The Scripps National Spelling Bee is the nation’s largest and longest running spelling bee.
