Natalie Habana was buzzing with excitement as she won first place in the Patrick M. Villano School annual Spelling Bee.

“I was excited to win it because I hadn’t won it before,” Habana said.

The fifth-grade student was one of 14 students who competed on January 26. Parents and students gathered in the auditorium to watch one representative from each homeroom compete. There were five students from fourth grade, five students from fifth grade and four students from fourth grade in this year’s bee. Each student won his or her homeroom bee to advance to the schoolwide bee.

Habana expressed feeling many mixed emotions including stress and excitement. Now, she advances to the North Jersey Spelling Bee at Bergen Community College next month.

Kim Biggs helped organize the school bee. She also served as one of the judges.

“It is a little nerve wracking to be a judge of the Spelling Bee because of course I want the contest to be fair and to be sure we are making the right calls when we deem someone has misspelled a word,” Biggs explained. “My favorite part is when it gets down to only a few spellers and there is a battle for the win.”

Biggs thinks everyone is very brave when they come up to the stage. She enjoys being a judge and is proud of all who participated. That includes fifth-grader Anaya Modi.

“It was a fun time being up on the stage,” Modi said.