Top Spellers Advance to County Spelling Bee
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Representing Chinook Public Schools in today's Blaine County Spelling Bee are these top spellers: Back Row: Ashlyn Jensen, Addison Olsen, Ben Hofeldt, Hallie Neibauer, Mekayla Brown, Balen Adair. Front Row: Lori Mord, Britt Powell, Falyn Cecrle, Carter Alisch, Noah Pomeroy, and Alastar Fogg.
In the past month, schools across the county have been abuzz holding their site spelling bees to determine who will represent their schools as champion spellers. The results are in and forty-six spellers from across Blaine County will gather today, February 5, at 10:00 a.m. in the Chinook High School Auditorium for the 2020 Blaine County Spelling Bee.
Bailey Billmayer (grade 6), Grace Honey (grade 8), Trent Billmayer (ninth grade), and Tate Beck (grade 7) will represent Turner Public Schools.
Representing Hays/Lodge Pole School will be Shaydyn Blount and Clevin Tumulak, both fifth graders; Ethan Russell and Kelcie Messerly from the sixth grade; Mason Tumulak and Mindy McCabe from seventh grade; and Rayleigh Snell and Tyranisha Striker, eighth graders. Alternates are Axel Swan and Rylee Martin.
Eighth Grade English Teacher at Hays/Lodge Pole School, Natacha Messerly Doney reported that four 8th graders battled it out in class: "They fought pretty hard for the chance to spell at the local spelling bee!"
From Harlem School District, eighteen students qualified to advance: Fifth and sixth graders Hayden Main, Carter Lawrence, Alexander Skinner, Jackson Young, Sebastian Rutherford, Madison Mount, Autumn Doney, Kenneth Weasel, Lathan Black Wolf, Tealey Hawley, Mylee Bell, Mikaela Doney, and Loey Bell; and junior high school students Troy Longknife, Kimberly Yellow-Stone, Jenna King, Alaura Hawley, and Dallas Doney.
Chinook Public Schools is sending twelve: Ashlyn Jensen (grade 7), Britt Powell (grade 6), Addison Olsen (grade 7), Noah Pomeroy (grade 6), Lori Mord (grade 5), Hallie Neibauer (grade 8), Alastar Fogg (grade 6), Carter Alisch (grade 5), Mekayla Brown, (grade 7), Falyn Cecrle (grade 6), Balen Adair (grade 6), and Ben Hofeldt (grade 7).
During the Meadowlark Elementary School Bee, Jensen and Powell battled back and forth for approximately forty minutes until the 45th round when Jensen correctly spelled the championship word, enough. Those in attendance considered that a suitable final word for such a lengthy contest between two spellers.
The top spellers from Zurich Elementary School are 5th grader Rangler Skoyen, 6th grader Nathaniel Plain Feather, 7th grader Elayna Adams, and 8th grader JJ Jendro.
No contestants will be representing Cleveland Elementary School or the Hartland Colony School, and North Harlem Colony Elementary School District could not be reached.
The winner of today's Spelling Bee will advance to state competition in Bozeman. The 2020 Treasure State Spelling Bee will be held at Montana State University's Strand Union Building, on March 14 at 1:00 p.m.
Winners from the State level will advance to Nationals. Bee Week 2020 will take place the week of Memorial Day, May 24 through May 29, at Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland.
As the spellers move through the paces, they will be vying for the coveted Scripps Cup. Designed by Rookwood Pottery in Cincinnati and introduced just last year, the Scripps Cup is the Bee's national championship trophy.
Like the Oscars for the motion picture arts, the Masters for golfers, and trophies for similar iconic events, the Bee wanted its own distinctive award. So, in 2019 when the Scripps National Spelling Bee decided it was time for a new trophy, one that is exclusive to the event and reflects the history of the program and the hard work it takes to be a National Champion, they commissioned Rookwood Pottery to design the Scripps Cup.
Incorporating symbolism that embodies the ideals of the Bee, this grand award is inspired by the competition's history. An octagon shaped vessel-a shape that imitates a cell in a honeycomb-rises from the pages of a book to represent the knowledge that comes from study. The cup is decorated with bees and gladiolus, which was the first championship word spelled by Frank Neuhauser in 1925 at the National Spelling Bee.
Named after the American media conglomerate founded by Edward W. Scripps, the Scripps National Spelling Bee (SNSB) is administered on a not-for-profit basis by the E.W. Scripps Company from its headquarters in Cincinnati, Ohio. According to Scripps officials, "the purpose of the Bee is to help students improve their spelling, increase their vocabularies, learn concepts, and develop correct English usage that will help them all their lives."
