Floral Park Memorial Junior Senior High School student, Eric Afflerbach, 13, competed Sunday, Feb. 10 at the Third Annual Hofstra Long Island Regional Scripps Spelling Bee. Like many other students, he was nervous before the spelling began, but he braved the stage for a few rounds.
He spelled words including “vigilante” and “subterfuge”, and competing until he was among the last 30 spellers. Even though he was knocked out of the competition by difficult words, he still enjoyed competing.
“I am very happy to have this opportunity. It’s very exciting. I’ve enjoyed spelling since first grade,” he explained.
The intense day began at 9 a.m. with a written exam. After, the students marched onto the stage, and they patiently waited to be called to the microphone to spell a word at random from the Merriam-Webster dictionary.
Every student wanted the chance to compete in the nationals. The national winner last year received an array of prizes including a $30,000 cash prize, a trophy and more.
