Spellers give ‘nothing but their best’ at diocesan spelling bee
It all came down to “athletics.”
After an intense back-and-forth, Whitney Hackman of St. Mary School in Glasgow correctly spelled that word to break a tie with Mikayla Stokes of St. Joseph Cathedral School in Jefferson City, winning the eighth-grade division in the 29th annual St. Martin School Diocesan Spelling Bee in St. Martins.
Fourth- through eighth-graders from 22 diocesan Catholic schools participated.
For overall score, Immaculate Conception School in Jefferson City came in first, St. Peter School in Fulton came in second, and St. George School in Linn came in third.
Kai Foster of St. Peter School in Fulton, won sixth-grade competition.
“The day before the spelling bee, I practiced with my mom for like an hour or two,” he said. “I’m pretty sure that helped a lot.”
Chance Fischer of St. Joseph School in Salisbury didn’t think he’d get far in the competition but he wound up in first place among the fourth graders.
“I’ve been reading for a long, long time,” he said. “I don’t know why I like reading so much. I just know I like it a lot.”
His favorite reading topics are gaming and Greek mythology. For those who don’t enjoy reading, he suggested, “Start by reading something you like.”
“Comes down to reading”
This was St. Martin School fourth-grade teacher Heather Henley’s second year as spelling bee coordinator.
A St. Martin graduate, she remembers participating in at least one of the spelling bees herself.
She admires good spellers because spelling has always been difficult for her.
“I think for most of them, they already have an idea about the phonics and the way words come together from early on in first grade, and that kind of builds,” she said. “And they apply that to the words in the spelling bee.”
She said it’s more than just memorizing words.
“I lot of it comes down to reading,” she said. “The more they read as children, the better spellers and the better readers they become, and they apply that in all the subject areas.”
That includes religion.
“Whenever we read our stories from the Bible, we apply our knowledge of reading and it helps us pronounce the names that you come across in the Bible. You use your spelling strategies and phonics skills to pronounce those words, and you learn more about those stories of our faith,” she said.
Mrs. Henley said the students enjoy spending the day catching up with friends from other schools.
“Some of them are friends with them already,” she said. “They play sports and are involved in other areas with them as well. So they come here and see that they’re in the spelling bee and it’s just another interaction for them.”
“Bamboozled”
“It was a great day. Everything went very smoothly,” said St. Martin fifth-grade teacher Leann Higgins, who helped coordinate the event. Just about everything went very smoothly, and God was conspicuously present.
“We prayed before we started,” she noted. “And a lot of the words they spelled have Catholic connections. The manners shown by the kids in how we treat each other when your neighbor gets out and is upset — there was just such kindness there.”
Carol Woehrer, official pronouncer for the spelling bee, said it’s always a lot of fun.
“I learn something new every year — either about people or about words. Sometimes both.”
For instance: “They’re smarter than you think they are!” she said. “You know some of these kids are here just goofing around and then they get up there and they’re smart!”
Mrs. Woehrer said she “got promoted or demoted, depending on your point of view” to pronouncer while she had children in grade school.
Three of them later became teachers, “so I’ve been doing this for a while,” she said.
Being the pronouncer involves reading all the words to the spellers and occasionally using a word in a sentence.
“I once had to use the word bamboozle,” she said. “I think I said something like, ‘He bamboozled his grandmother into playing the fiddle,’” she said. “Anyway, the kid spelled it right.”
Top five
The first- through fifth-place winners in fourth grade were: Chance Fischer of St. Joseph School in Salisbury, Savanah Pemberton of St. Stanislaus School in Wardsville, Miles Miller of Immaculate Conception School in Jefferson City, Anna Stokes of St. Joseph Cathedral School in Jefferson City, and Sophia Voss of St. George School in Linn.
In fifth grade, Vivian Backer of St. Peter School in Fulton took first place, followed by Lauren Rowden of Visitation Inter-Parish School in Vienna, Abby Heckenkamp of St. Stanislaus School in Wardsville, Clark Yates of Immaculate Conception School in Montgomery City and Emma Goetz of Our Lady of the Snows School in Mary’s Home.
In sixth grade, Kai Foster of St. Peter School in Fulton came in first place, followed by Nick Ammons of Immaculate Conception School in Jefferson City, Ava Hoff of St. Joseph School in Pilot Grove, Katie Roling of St. Martin School in St. Martins and Addison Slicker of Immaculate Conception School in Jefferson City.
In seventh grade, Jacob Barr of St. Peter School in Fulton won first place, followed by Molly Suthoff of St. Thomas the Apostle School in St. Thomas, Joseph Oliveras of St. George School in Linn, Brie Heckman of St. Thomas the Apostle School in St. Thomas and Matthew Cremer of Immaculate Conception School in Jefferson City.
In eighth grade, Whitney Hackman of St. Mary School in Glasgow came in first, followed by Mikayla Stokes of St. Joseph Cathedral School in Jefferson City, Sara Beck of Our Lady of the Snows School in Mary’s Home, Liv Bloomer of St. Peter Interparish School in Jefferson City, and Eli Bruemmer of St. Stanislaus School in Wardsville.
“Nothing less than the best”
At the end of the spelling bee, St. Martin School Principal Eddie Mulholland led everyone in giving all the participants a standing ovation.
“We were so impressed with the love, behavior, friendship and kindness of all our guests,” said Mr. Mulholland.
He lauded the spellers, their parents, their spelling-team coaches, the judges, scorers and other volunteers for the event.
“They give nothing less than their best and they always keep Jesus in their heart forever,” he said. “Every year, it gets better because of them.”
