Speller Profiles

Speller: William Barfeé
Speller #16
Age, Grade: 12, Sixth Grade
School: Cold Spring County Day School

William Morris Barfee participated in the 24th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee and would have gone on to Nationals, if not for an unfortunate incident with his peanut allergy. In his free time, he enjoys his Sea Anemone collection he keeps in his basement, reading various books on science (his favorite type being human biology), playing video games on his Playstation 3 and practicing spelling with his real mom, Joan.

Speller: Leaf Coneybear
Speller #14
Age, Grade: 10, Fifth Grade
School: Home schooled

Leaf Coneybear lives in Basin District with his parents and six brothers and sisters, where he is home schooled. Leaf Coneybear is overjoyed to be participating in this year’s Putnam County Spelling Bee. When he’s not spelling Leaf enjoys drawing/coloring, playing outside, and reading comic books. Though he seems less confident than the other spellers, Leaf Coneybear does have a secret weapon…

Speller: Olive Ostrovsky
Speller #23
Age, Grade: 10, Fifth Grade
School: Garrison Elementary School

Olive Ostrovsky is an avid speller and enjoys playing scrabble. Her favorite book is Where the Red Fern Grows and she is obsessed with the Harry Potter series. Olive loves to dance. She can be found interpretive dancing to Hannah Montana and Michael Jackson. Olive also knits. She has made jumpsuits for all of her stuffed animals. Olive’s favorite foods include chocolate chip muffins, blackberries, and green Spanish olives. She hopes to travel the world, just like her mom, and to learn Hindi and German.

Speller: Marcy Park
Speller #83
Age, Grade: 10, Sixth Grade
School: Our Lady of Intermittent Sorrows

Marcy Park is, as she writes, “pretty good at a lot of things.” She can speak six languages, she plays soccer and hockey, she can twirl a baton with fire, and she plays piano and violin. She has received a black belt in karate, she skipped 4th and 5th grade, and is on her way to becoming the youngest high school student in Parochial school history. She was baptized into the Christian faith when she was born and ever since has gone to church every Sunday. Marcy started spelling competitively when she was in 2nd grade. After winning her first Bee, her parents insisted on her continued application in the sport. What a lot of people don’t know about her is that she loves to bake and sit down with a good book. She also loves to listen to Christian rock music and dance around her room.

Speller: Logainne Schwartzandgrubenierre
Speller #28
Age, Grade: 9, Fourth Grade
School: Magna Magnet Grammar School

Logainne Schwartzandgrubenierre is a vivacious nine year old Gemini who knows what she wants: for you to love her, America! Logan is a political machine who wants fairness and equality for everyone regardless or age, race, gender, or sexual orientation. She wants to be the best for America and, more importantly, her dads. Her two fathers, which she affectionately refers to as Carl Dad and Dan Dad, want Logan to be the best at everything. Common to her zodiac, Logan is nervous, tense, cunning, and inquisitive. She practices yoga, though she is still working on her breathing. In the future, Logan hopes to win the spelling bee and then go on to a university that places in the top three on the Princeton Review. Also, she hopes to be the first female president and show those sexist, homophobic pigs what’s what.

Speller: Charlito “Chip” Tolentino
Speller #96
Age, Grade: 13, Seventh Grade
School: Putnam Academy

Chip is a die-hard Red Sox fan whose favorite activities include baseball, soccer, karate, and bug-collecting. He is also currently taking piano lessons. His favorite subject at school is language arts, and he plans to either become an English teacher or a major league baseball player one day. He spends his free time “chilling” with friends, having fun studying with mom, or entertaining his pet guppy, Chuck.