The Robert A. Taft Middle School Spell Bowl Team competed in the Area Indiana Academic Spell Bowl Junior Division competition on November 1, 2017 at Clifford Pierce Middle School in Merrillville. The Spell Bowl Team ended the evening with a first place finish. Marianne Gerona, Rocco Jann, and Sanjana Kumar all earned near-perfect ribbons. Sampreethi Swaminathan, Lucas Dannels, Krisitan Maunes, Rosalie Degenhart, and Capitan, Daniel Sibincic, all received perfect ribbons.
This is the first time that the entire team of Taft Spellers placed with a score of perfect or near-perfect, only missing 3 words out of 72 for the night. The team is coached by Liz Franklin. She stated that, “The entire team of 16 students has had one goal all season, and that is to place first at the state competition on November 11, 2017 at Purdue University.
This is a team effort. All 16 students push and encourage each other to do their best.” The other students on the team are Jackson Fronek, Chris Gloff, David Garrison, Charlie Hagerman, Ysabel Maunes, Tristin Pool, Travis Roiter, and Kennedy Silberhorn. Vickie Nelson has been filling the role of assistant coach this year.