On January 10th the Junior Women's Club of Somerset Hills and the Peapack-Gladstone Women's Club held a spelling bee at the Bedminster Township Elementary School.

The Junior Women's Club of Somerset Hills has been hosting a spelling bee for 4th and 5th graders for 10 years and this is the first year the club partnered with the Women's Club.

The 1st place winner was Anna Skrobala, a 5th grader at Mt. Prospect Elementary School in Basking Ridge, the 2nd place winner was James You, a 4th grader from Bedminster Elementary, and in 3rd place was Colin Beisler, a 4th grader from Mt. Horeb Elementary in Warren. Anna received a $75 Visa gift card, James a $50 Visa gift card, and Colin a $25 Visa gift card, all compliments of Affinity Credit Union in Basking Ridge.

Each participant received a consolation prize with pencils, candy, word search book and planner, compliments of The Tutoring Center in Basking Ridge.

The spelling bee winners move on to the District Bee held in February, competing against the winners of other Junior club bees held in northern New Jersey.

The pronouncer for the bee was Cristina Lang, a news, weather, and traffic reporter. The judges were Patti Whitehouse and Karen Pifher, from the Peapack-Gladstone Women's Club and Antonette D'Orazo, youth services librarian at the Warren library. 

Refreshments were provided by Wegmans of Bridgewater and baked goods were donated by the Juniors.  

 All proceeds from refreshments sold at the Bee go to local libraries. The Junior Women's Club of Somerset Hills wishes to thank all the children who participated from Basking Ridge, Bernardsville, Bedminster and Warren, The Tutoring Center , Affinity Credit Union, Wegmans and the Peapack-Gladstone Women's Club.

The Junior Women's Club of Somerset Hills is a civic organization serving the community for over 80 years. Upcoming club events are the Easter/Passover food drive for needy families in the community and an Easter Carnival on March 9th, where the club partners with the Liberty Corner Presbyterian Church in Basking Ridge.

The next meeting of the Junior Women's Club of Somerset Hills will be held February 5th at 7 p.m. at Panera Bread in Basking Ridge. Meetings are held monthly, alternating between day and evening to accomodate the most people. Please email the club at jwcofsh@yahoo.com if you wish to attend or would like more information about the club.