Prior to the contest, each grade held spelling tests to find the top spellers in each level. They in turn, competed for the right to advance to the next contest on March 8 at St. John’s University.
Round after round, one speller dropped out after another. Students were asked to spell words like soothsayer, incandescent, sluice, belfrey, circa, deceitful, lesion. Then it came down to the last two students sixth grader Josh Krupke and seventh grader Jared Nickel.
This year’s contest was ran a little differently as one of the spellers was hard of hearing and needed an interpreter, Diane Welle. Welle would sign the word for Nickel, but not all the words had a sign she could do. In those cases, she mouthed the word for him to lip read. If Nickel did not understand the word, he could ask for a definition.
Nickel was able to outspell Krupke to win the local contest. Kevin Leo finished in third place. They all received medals for their efforts.
Representing the sixth grade in the contest were: Rily Flanders, Chris Fuchs, Josh Krupke, Kevin Leo, Josh Parks, and Amy VavRosky; seventh grade: Wendy Bennett, Maria Jantota, Ryan Whitcomb, Jared Nickel, Jake Nyffeler, and Trent Maetzold; eighth grade: Becky Gardner, Scott Ingalsbe, Chris Lauer, Ryan Flanders, Stephanie Krupke, and Chris Tersteeg.