W-I-N-N-E-R! LV Student is Top Speller in NJ

For Long Valley's Kaitlin Cheung, a fifth-grader at , March 10 was kind of miserable.

But in a good way.

After correctly spelling the word "seclude" Cheung secured first place in the New Jersey State Federation of Women’s Clubs–Junior Membership by spelling "miserable" and outlasting 17 of her peers from around the state.

Cheung started locally by competing–for the first time in her life–in the Long Valley Junior Women's Club , beating out nearly 60 other students from Washington Township.

The win earned her a place in the regional competition on March 3, . The top six finishers from the north, central and southern regions moved on to the state championship.

In the state competition on Saturday, three of the 18 contestants made it to the 10th round, where Cheung was the only student to spell her word (seclude) correctly. To finalize the win, she had to spell a second word (miserable) and make it official.

Other words correctly spelled by Cheung included "pasture," "sleigh," "acceptance," "impatient," "hemisphere," and "magnify."

Coming in second place was Jennie Shih of River Edge, and in third was Ronnie Melao of Westfield.

Cheung received a first place ribbon and trophy, a $100 Visa gift card, trophy, and two tickets to the State Theatre of New Jersey.

Information provided Sue Cheung and New Jersey State Federation of Women’s Clubs.