Cora Massaro made us all P-R-O-U-D in Goshen with her trip to the Scripps National Spelling Bee, joining students from around the world to compete on a global stage. Cora’s trip was months in the making, and in the end, she returned to Goshen with an incredible experience.
In February, Cora’s journey began when she was the eighth grade winner of C. J. Hooker’s spelling bee within the school, a competition she went into with the mindset of just hoping to do well.
The first place finish secured Cora a seat in the Orange- Ulster Spelling Bee. Going from our school to our county competition, Cora felt nervous. “The only spelling bee I did was the one in school,” Cora shared. “This had a lot more people from around the area.”
This time, it took twenty-four rounds in total, with six championship rounds to crown Cora as the winner. The two final students exhausted the prepared words for the event, requiring the switch to the Unabridged Dictionary.
With two spelling bee victories, the next stop on this adventure was not going to be as close as Orange-Ulster BOCES. Qualifiers from around the country traveled to the bank of the Potomac River in Oxon Hill, Maryland, just outside of Washington D.C.
From left to right: Nancy Weber, Karyn Hughes, Elena Jordon, and Cora Massaro.
Cora, or as they knew her on stage, Speller 143, represented Goshen and all of Orange County in the Scripps National Spelling Bee.
Looking back at her experience, Cora wants to remember the people she met along the way. “I want to remember meeting all of those people because everyone there was really nice,” Cora said. “It was so cool to meet people, and now I have some friends from different states and it’s really fun.”
Along with competing, Cora had the chance to explore the area during the trip. During the six days she was in the nation’s capitol, Cora took part in a Memorial Day picnic in Nationals Park, along with a trolley tour that was one of her highlights of the trip. “We toured some of the area where there’s landmarks and monuments,” she said. “It was really fun.”
Given her experience this year, Cora’s advice for students interested in participating in their spelling bee is to prepare for the setting along with the competition. “Practice not getting nervous on stage because I was very nervous to get on stage, but once I was there, I was completely fine. It’s not as scary as you think.”