Schools throughout Monroe County were invited to participate in the Russell C. Hughes spelling bee every year. This year the winners in the Junior and Senior high levels were from Monsignor McHugh School and Stroudsburg High School.

Rebecca Chan, a 10th-grader at Stroudsburg High School, took the senior championship over Pleasant Valley's Emily Gethen. Jillian Brennan of Monsignor McHugh School took the junior title from Becca Hawks of Stroudsburg Junior High School.Chan and Brennan each received a $200 prize. Gethen and Hawk will each receive $130.The participating school districts were Pleasant Valley, Stroudsburg, East Stroudsburg, Monsignor McHugh and Notre Dame.Each of the schools held two rounds of spelling bees during January to select the students who would attend. Each school could send up to five students.In the junior round, the students were tripped up by words like Sputnik, canasta and dyslexia. One participant got knocked out on the word participant.During the senior round, the words were a bit more difficult including sevruga, a type of caviar.Every student who participated was awarded at least $30 for making it into the championship round.The evening was hosted by Pleasant Valley Superintendent Carole Geary. East Stroudsburg University provided the spell master and judges for the night. ESU faculty memberJill Silvius served as spell master, and Shyla Saltzman, Laura Kieselbach and Colbert Root were the judges.