Perry L. Drew Elementary School fourth-grader Sanjna Suresh out-spelled 33 other students through 19 rounds to win the Greater Hightstown Juniorettes annual spelling bee Tuesday evening at the Grace N. Rogers Elementary School auditorium., Fourth-graders and fifth-graders from Drew Elementary, Rogers Elementary, Ethel McKnight Elementary School and Walter C. Black Elementary School competed in the spelling bee., Kavya Murthy, a fifth-grader from Rogers placed second and Vishruth Batchu, a fifth-grader from Drew, placed third. Of the 34 students who participated, there were 15 fourth-graders and 19 fifth-graders; 10 from Drew, nine from McKnight, nine from WCB and six from Rogers., The Greater Hightstown Juniorettes have sponsored the spelling bee for more than 15 years. Co-advisors Cori Kenny and Sue Madden have chaired the event for the past five years. Judges for the event were Elaine Villani, Dale Grubb and Lee Brown, members of the Friday Club of Hightstown, which sponsors the Greater Hightstown Juniorettes., The Juniorettes is non-profit organization of young women ages 12-18 whose primary focus is to serve the local community volunteering at events such annual Spelling Bee, Face Painting at the Rise holiday party, local library, preparing food for the District Special Olympics athletes and more., The top three winners in the spelling bee received cash prizes and will now move on to the District Spelling Bee, which will be held Feb. 11 at the New Jersey State Federation of Women’s Club state headquarters, 55 Labor Drive in New Brunswick. The top three winners in that competition will then move to the NJSFWC State Spelling Bee March 4in New Brunswick., Sponsors for the event were Dairy Queen and Moe’s, both of which donated coupons to all the spelling bee participants.
