With words like wikiwiki, virtuoso, newfangled and automaton, local students showed impressive spelling skills at the 2018 Navajo County Spelling Bee. On Feb. 14, 82 students representing schools or school districts from throughout Navajo County gathered to compete against one another for a chance to win a cash prize and the opportunity to compete at the state level.
The event was held at Snowflake High School and many parents, family members and local community members were on hand to show support for the competitors. Navajo County Superintendent of Schools Jalyn Gerlich, was the host of the event. Gerlich said, “The Snowflake School District has hosted us for several years now and we cannot thank them enough. They are so gracious and do anything we ask of them.”
Participants ranged from third graders to eighth graders and many easily spelled words that some adults would have struggled with. The judges were wildlife consultant Norris Dodd, former Navajo County Treasurer Manny Hernandez and Superintendent of the Heber Overgaard Unified School District Ron Tenney.
After each student nervously took their place at the microphone and spelled their chosen word they would anxiously wait to see if the judges would ring the bell signifying they were incorrect. If they didn’t hear the bell and were correct some of them would flash huge smiles to their supporters in the audience while some simply took in a deep breath and waited for the next round.
As the competition wound down to the final 11 it started to take several rounds to eliminate any students. In the end it came down to Jett Jue representing the Winslow Unified School District, Trinity Hughes representing Sequoia Village School and Hyrum Baker representing Snowflake Unified School District. Jue won the competition and an enormous trophy as well as $100. The runner up was Hughes and she received a trophy and $50 prize. Third place went to Baker who also got a trophy and $25.
The next spelling challenge will be the Arizona State Spelling Bee, which will be held in Phoenix on March 24. The winner of that competition will represent Arizona at the National Spelling Bee in Washington D.C. that will be held in late May or early June.
