Twenty Middle School students participated in the annual Middle School spelling bee Thursday morning, January 8. Participants were selected from each Middle School English class after completing a written test with 20 spelling words and 10 vocabulary words. The top five scorers in each class moved on to the school competition.
The bee went 11 rounds, with nine rounds of spelling and two rounds of vocabulary. The vocabulary portion of the bee, new this year, focused on the competitors’ understanding of the meaning of the given word.
Anna Bracher (7th) placed first and Anna Cochran (6th) earned the runner-up spot. Anna Bracher won by correctly identifying the definition of “harbinger” (something that foreshadows future events).
Participating in the bee were Ally Berry (5th), Ronny Berry (5th), Anna Bracher (7th), John Robert
Bracher (5th), Anna Cochran (6th), Jason Dinschel (7th), Tiffany Graham (6th), Grayce Guthrie (8th), Keith Harris (7th), Benjamin Herschend (5th), Virginia Herschend (7th), Zachary Justice (8th), Emily Moses (6th), Jack Overstreet (7th), Donovan Pearce (8th), Sherina Thomas (8th) , Olivia Veenendaal-Casper (8th), Abbie Wickham (6th), Luke Sinclair (5th), and Meghan Wray (6th).
Both girls will go on to compete in round one of the GISA Middle School Spelling Bee at Woodward Academy in February.