Schools

Hampton Bays Students Head to Scrabble Championship

Kids will compete for a $10,000 top prize.

A team of Hampton Bays students are among 86 teams of fourth through eighth graders getting ready to head to Washington, D.C. for the 2013 National School Scrabble Championship, hosted by Greenport's National Scrabble Association.

The kids will compete over two days for the $10,000 top prize.

Coached by Kathy Hummel, Hampton Bays Middle School students Riley Kangas, 7th grade, and Domenico Pensa III, 6th grade, are the only students from Long Island attending.

According to Hummel, who has headed up the 15-year-old Hampton Bays Scrabble Team since 2000, the boys have been training after school since January.

The boys, said Hummel, are grateful for the support of their parents, teachers, and local businesses and the community, who all came out to help raise money for the trip to Washington during the Scrabble Team's 3rd Annual “Fun”Raiser, held in April.

The championship will take place at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel in Washington, D.C. May 3 through 4.

All contestants will play in teams of two. Ranging in age from nine to 14, the kids have been ranked some of the nation's top Scrabble players; some go on to play against adults in rated Scrabble tournaments and the annual National Scrabble Championship.

This year’s championship will have more than 15 students with an official North American Scrabble Players Association (NASPA) rating.

The School Scrabble Program has been praised as being an innovative teaching tool that has helped over a million kids in over 20,000 schools nationwide with spelling, vocabulary, math, dictionary use and more.

Play begins at 2:00 p.m. with three rounds on Friday, May 3 and will continue all day Saturday, May 4. Finals will begin at approximately 3:00 p.m. on Saturday, and will be followed by the awards ceremony.


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