We've Got The County Covered
We've Got The County Covered
Blaine County Spelling Bee Champion, Gabriella Doney of Harlem will represent Blaine County at the Treasure State Spelling Bee on March 21 in Bozeman. Her classmate Kayleigh Gray won runner-up status.
After all the spelling had taken place at the Blaine County Spelling Bee on February 5 in the Lloyd Sweet Auditorium at Chinook High School, two eighth graders from Harlem Junior High emerged as winners.
For the "spell down" on that Thursday, Gabriella Doney went head to head for eight rounds with 27 other contestants representing five different school districts in Blaine County before being declared the champion. Her championship word was "S-y-r-i-n-g-e Syringe."
Doney is the daughter of Crystal and Dean Doney Jr. In fact, Doney's mother, Crystal teaches eighth grade Language Arts and seventh grade Social Studies for the Harlem School District. About her daughter's win, Mrs. Doney said: "I knew she could do it; she has lived up to her nickname 'Gabby' and was reading before kindergarten."
Just like her father did in the 90s, Gabriella has participated in the Blaine County Spelling Bee for three years. If she is unable to attend the Treasure State Spelling Bee on March 21 to represent Blaine County, her classmate Kayleigh Gray will serve, since she won runner-up status.
"Harlem is proud to have two winners, and we recognized them in front of their peers at last week's pep rally," reports Mrs. Doney.
According to the school's Facebook page, this is the first time in school history that both the winner and runner-up are students from Harlem Schools.
Blaine County Superintendent of Schools, Kendall Harwood functioned as the Spelling Bee's Director. When asked to provide his overall assessment of the event and how it went, he stated: "The Blaine County Spelling Bee went off without a hitch! It was the first year in recent memory there were no alternates competing from any school. Everyone showed up and made the Bee a successful one."
Doney will advance to the Treasure State Spelling Bee, which is scheduled for March 21. On the campus of Montana State University–Bozeman at 1:00 p.m. in the Strand Union Building, sixty contestants will represent over 200 public and private schools across Montana at the State Bee.
