Sabrina Hanson spells her way to title; Aiden Saelee earns runner-up
Mountain Lake Public School (MLPS) Spelling Bee words from “mad” to “rendition” were pronounced through the rounds to separate the beginning field of spellers in the 2017 edition to the eventual champion.
Topping the field of 16 spellers, and advancing to the South Central Service Cooperative Regional Spelling Bee, was eighth-grader Sabrina Hanson, daughter of Mark and Cheri Hanson of Mountain Lake, winning in the 15th round with the word “rendition.”
Finishing as runner-up was fifth-grade student Aiden Saelee, son of Bay and Toni Saelee of Mountain Lake.
This year’s Bee was held Thursday afternoon, January 19, in the school’s elementary library. Pronouncer was Pam Osland, Spelling Bee and Library Coordinator, with Mountain Lake Public Elementary Elementary Principal Karl Wassman and Mountain Lake Public High School Principal Michelle Larson, spelling judges and Amy Hartzler, school social worker, cuing the rounds.
Throughout the Bee, the spellmasters from grades five-through-eight had to crack the spelling code for words that included “fuddy-duddy,” “settee,” “daunted,” “clodhopper,” “quashed,” “equestrian,” “bedraggled,” “paisley,” “precursor,” “marionette” and “perilous.”
The school’s annual Spelling Bee featured two students from each of the fifth- and sixth-grade classrooms, two from seventh-grade and four spellers representing the eighth-grade.
The South Central Service Cooperative Regional Spelling Bee will be held in the Conference Center at South Central College in North Mankato on Tuesday, February 21, beginning at 5:30 p.m. The winner of the Regional Spelling Bee advances to the Scripps National Spelling Bee, to be held May 28-June 2, in Washington, D. C.
South Central Service Cooperative sponsors the Spelling Bee for the South-Central Region of Minnesota. Counties covered by this event include both Cottonwood and Watonwan Counties, along with Blue Earth, Brown, Faribault, Le Sueur, Martin, Nicollet, Sibley and Waseca Counties.
The Scripp’s National Spelling Bee is the nation’s largest and longest-running educational promotion, administered on a not-for-profit basis by The E. W. Scripps Company, along with local spelling bee sponsors in the United States, American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, and Department of Defense Schools in Europe; also, the Bahamas, Canada, Ghana, Jamaica, Japan and South Korea
The purpose of the series of Spelling Bees is to help students improve their spelling, increase their vocabularies, learn concepts, and develop correct English usage that will help them all their lives.
For her efforts, Sabrina received a medal and a Webster’s Dictionary/Thesaurus, certificate and pencil.
Runner-up Aiden received a medal, certificate and pencil.
The remaining participants each received a certificate and a pencil.
Competing in the Spelling Bee were:
+ Fifth Grade – Alex Karschnik, Joyce McCue, Christyana Lunz and Aiden Saelee.
+ Sixth Grade – Landon Morin, Kaelynn Pietsch, Devyn Rempel and Meesha Hoek.
+ Seventh Grade – Ben Bartsch, Kade Wassman, Sam Stade, Thavien Xayachak.
+ Eighth grade – Noah Rempel, Sabrina Hanson, Kole Markey and Carly Osland.
