Watching Ps and Qs (and more) at Spelling Bees

First rounds of the annual spelling bee season started in December when all fourth and fifth graders within Eureka’s Geggie Elementary School were eligible to participate in their classroom’s spelling bees.  They were the first Rockwood elementary school to begin the funneling process that leads toward the top three students from the fourth and fifth grade classes throughout the district winning a spot in the spelling bee final. 

At Geggie Elementary, this year's ultimate spelling contest at the school level took place Friday.  A competition pool of 27 fourth and fifth grade students sat orderly and quietly as their parents and fellow classmates silently encouraged them with smiles.

Final competition judges and teachers, Kerri Schiavone, Lorinda Krey and Sandy Miller, held up a green card for a correct spelling and a red card for an incorrect spelling.

By the beginning of the fourth round of competition, there were only 18 competitors remaining.  Words, such as subterranean and psychoanalysis, halted a few more students, and left the pool of competitors at 10 for the beginning of the fifth round.

Long, multisyllable words eliminated more students until there were only two.

At this point, Schiavone, spelling bee organizer and fourth grade teacher, explained the rules for the ending rounds.  She told each student they would have a chance to spell the word correctly.  "If one student misspells the word and the second student misspells the word, then we go on to another word,” she said.

Finally, Mia Sherwood, fourth grader in Schiavone’s class, won as her competitor misspelled a long and difficult word.

The cafeteria at Geggie erupted into cheers as Sherwood realized her success.

Kevin and Melinda Sherwood, Mia’s parents, of Eureka, rushed to congratulate and hug their daughter.  Friends and teachers also gathered around the new champion.

Out of 201 students within Geggie’s fourth and fifth grades, Sherwood had risen to the top by studying a list of 250 words to be used in Friday’s spelling bee.

Schiavone said Sherwood now will go to a written competition at Maryville University on March 12, with the winner of that contest proceeding to an oral competition, also held at Maryville.

in Wildwood held their spelling bee on Jan. 10.  Emily Kohn, fourth grader in Jeremy Kellhofer’s class, took first place.  Rhiannon Moore, from Nora Casias’ fifth grade class, was the runner up.  Students and parents were able to watch their spelling bee on Pond TV, an internal broadcasting system at the school.

, also in Wildwood, also announced its spelling bee winners.  From a competition pool of 16 fourth and fifth grade students, Emily Feller, fifth grader in Laura O’Grady’s class, was the runner up and Prathi Pitchyaiah, fifth grader and also in O’Grady’s class, was the winner. 

Both Kohn and Pitchyaiah also will go to Maryville University during March to compete in the semifinal competition.