Date: Mar 18, 2012

Oceanside 5th Grader Wins Hofstra LI Regional Spelling Bee

Hofstra University, Hempstead, NY … Dean Creedon, a 5th grader at Oaks Street School 3 in the Oceanside, NY, school district, was the champion of the first Hofstra Long Island Regional Spelling Bee at Hofstra University’s John Cranford Adams Playhouse today, Sunday, March 18, 2012.

(L to r) Hofstra Provost Dr. Herman Berliner, Hofstra LI Regional Spelling Bee Champion Dean Creedon, and News 12 Long Island anchor Stacey Bell.

(L to r) 1st runner up Lillian Horne of the Academy Street Elementary School and Dean Creedon of the Oaks Street School 3 in Oceanside.

Dean’s winning word was “mordacious.” Prior words he answered were “temerity,” “stratification,” and “heliosis.” At the onset of the competition there were 105 4th-8th grade students from schools across Nassau and Suffolk County participating in the Hofstra Long Island Regional Spelling Bee.

First runner up in the competition was Lillian Horne, who represented the Academy Street Elementary School in Bayport. Some of Lillian’s words leading up to the final round were “megahertz,” “limousine,” and “anabolic.”

The March 18 Bee was the first to be held at Hofstra and Dean will now represent Long Island at the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C., later this spring.

The head judge at the Bee was Hofstra Associate Professor of Writing and Composition Studies Carole Papper. Reading the words, their definitions and languages of origin to the students was Bob Papper, Hofstra University’s Lawrence Stessin Distinguished Professor of Journalism and chair of the Department of Journalism, Media Studies, and Public Relations.

The emcee was News 12 Long Island anchor Stacey Bell, who has been with the station since January 31, 2012. Prior to joining News 12, Ms. Bell spent 14 years as an anchor/reporter at WJW-TV in Cleveland, Ohio, where she received two Emmy Awards and the “Personality of the Year” award from the Ohio Association of Broadcasters in 2003.

Hofstra extends special thanks to News 12 Long Island, The Long Island Ducks, The Scripps Company, Merriam-Webster Inc., Encyclopedia Britannica and Amazon.com for their support of the competition.

Hofstra University is a dynamic private institution of higher education where more than 12,000 full and part-time students choose from undergraduate and graduate offerings in liberal arts and sciences, business, engineering, communication, education, health and human services, honors studies, a School of Law, a School of Engineering and Applied Science and the Hofstra North Shore-LIJ School of Medicine.

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