On Wednesday, January 20th, 16 students from grades 3-8 gathered in the school gym to compete for the title of school spelling bee champion. In order to qualify for the bee, students had to place in the top three in their class spelling bee. The students who qualified were as follows: Ethan Furne, Ryker Atkins, Claire Kulp, Elijah Cool, Ella Cool, Riata Remund, Jami Lamphear, Lindsay Christensen, Josie Christensen, Danielle Dupocheel, Delanie Weinman, Walter Bierman, Rae Hagler, Serenity Borah, Brook Bierman, Jett Morgan.
To start off the bee, all of the spellers went up to the microphone and spelled their name. After this practice round, the real action started. By the end of the third round only 7 of the original 16 competitors remained. The fourth round was a super tight round with only 2 of the 7 competitors being eliminated. The 5 competitors that remained were Riata, Josie, Rae, Walter and Ethan.
Tough competition continued for 4 more rounds as the competition was narrowed down to 2 competitors; Walter Bierman and Ethan Furne. The two spellers then went into the championship round. The two competed for 4 more rounds until Ethan spelled “hooey” correctly in the 12th round and Walter misspelled the word “inevitable”. Ethan then had to spell “fronds”, he stepped up to the microphone and spelled it correctly to win.
Ethan Furne placed 1st, Walter Bierman placed 2nd, Rae Hagler placed 3rd, Josie Christensen placed 4th, and Riata Remund placed 5th. These five will now compete at the Custer County spelling bee.