Rachel Seo and Kristin Seperac will represent the C. J. Hooker Middle School at the Orange-Ulster BOCES Spelling Bee February 15.

Rachel and Kristin were the seventh and eighth grade winners, respectively, of the school-level bee held February 1 at the middle school. They competed against 18 classmates in the seventh and eighth grades.

The county bee is organized each year by the Orange-Ulster BOCES School Library Services and sponsored by the Times Herald Record.

The school-level spelling bee was directed by English Language Arts Teacher Elena Jordon. Participants were:

Grade 7:
Bridgette Bennis
Ysa Paneto
Antonio Ferraro
Gia Pfleger
Christopher Swift
Allison Tegnander
Jack Vanchieri
Rachel Seo
Victoria Jakakas
Aaron Gay

Grade 8:
Patrick McGovern
Ryan Dennehy
Daniel Horrego
Kristin Seperac
Andrew Gouveia
Andrew Svede
Ryan Primus
Isabel Dooley
Alexandria Thurtle
Catherine Moody