Hoffman Estates student qualifies for national spelling bee

Matt Imburgia had the last word at a spelling bee held at Woodfield Mall in Schaumburg Sunday in the children's section at Macy's.

His correct spelling of that word, "asbestos," earned him a trip to New York to compete for a $5,000 scholarship.

Imburgia was among 19 children ages 8 to 12 taking part in Macy's fourth annual Book A Brighter Future Spelling Bee.

The bee promotes awareness of a national partnership between Macy's and Reading Is Fundamental, which supports children's literacy. Last year the campaign raised $3.1 million for the literacy organization.

Winners from each of the 26 local events nationwide will receive a trip with a guardian to New York to participate in the finals at Macy's Herald Square on Sept. 26. The grand finale winner will receive a Kaplan Tutoring Scholarship worth $5,000 and a $500 Scholastic gift card.

This year's words were chosen to fit with a "green" theme. Imburgia, 10, who lives in Hoffman Estates and attends St. Hubert Catholic School, not only spelled "asbestos," but the penultimate word, "incinerator."

Imburgia's mother Kathleen said her son is naturally interested in words.

"He has been at a couple of spelling bees," winning his school spelling bee last year, she said. "He likes to read."

She said her son especially likes going through the dictionary.

"He knows more (words) than I do right now."

Matt, who won a $150 online gift card from Scholastic, a six-month online Kaplan program scholarship and tickets to a Broadway show, said he likes to read books about mystery and adventure.

"Spelling skills are very important," said contest judge Linda Smerge, a Cicero School District 99 teacher who is also the Illinois State Board of Education 2009 Teacher of the Year. "We used to leave out phonics - phonemic awareness. But today we have learned that we can't throw out the baby with the bath water."

She and another judge, Julianne Soble, who teaches in the Chicago Public School system, were impressed with the children.

Soble said she is a coordinator at her school for Reading Is Fundamental, which puts books in the hands of children four times each year.

"This program is phenomenal, and Macy's has done so much to raise money so they have the funding to give kids the opportunity," Soble said.

Noting that the books given by the organization are chosen by the children themselves, she said, "Most of the kids are from inner-city schools and they don't have a book that they can call their own."