In a full Spada Commons on December 10, the Middle School of New Jersey Consortium Spelling Bee landed at Delbarton. The event attracted the most accomplished middle school students in Northwest New Jersey who arrived on campus to demonstrate why they are deemed the best spellers at their respective schools. Participants included Oak Knoll School, Oratory Prep, Ridgedale Middle School, Central Middle School (Stirling), Morris Plains Borough School and Delbarton School.

Four spellers from each school participated in the Varsity and JV divisions and each division produced third, second and first-place winners. Delbarton’s eight spellers were selected by Middle School English teacher Mr. Michael Donnelly who conducted elimination round spelling bees in his four Middle School classes. This year's top Delbarton Middle School spellers included:

7th grade

• Lucas Lacz '30
• Remy Sardar '30
• Ivan Petrov '30
• Aaron Castaneda '30

8th grade

• Aaron Paul '29
• Max Lin '29
• Alex LaPuma '29
• Andrew Pieroni '29

Our Middle School Director Rick Cimino and Central Middle School English teacher Maura Aimette served as co-moderators as they presented words for students to spell. From 'hodgepodge' to 'rampant', this Bee had it all and consisted of two mini-tournaments, a JV Bee (typically 6th and 7th graders) and a Varsity Bee (8th graders).  We are pleased to announce the winners of the 2024 Middle School Consortium Spelling Bee:  In the JV tournament, Remy Sardar '30 (Delbarton) took first  place,  Kayla Zhang (Frelinghuysen Middle School) was second, and Aaron Castaneda '30 (Delbarton) came in third.

In the Varsity competition, Max Lin '29 (Delbarton) placed first, Aaron Paul '29 (Delbarton) placed second and Ilia (Central Middle School) took third place.

Thank you to all Middle School Consortium Spelling Bee participants for joining us on campus for this annual event, and congratulations to the six place winners who brought home some impressive, suitably green hardware!