Sixth-grader Ketch Jacobson, 12, represented the Haines School at Alaska’s state spelling bee March 3 in Anchorage.
Ketch correctly spelled “providence,” but he exited the bee in the second round, on “monotonous.”
He was one of 152 spellers in the event at the Alaska Center for the Performing Arts.
“We all sat down in seats, and they would call us up by row, and we would stand up there and wait for our turn to go up to the podium,”Ketch said.
Ketch in February won a spelling bee in Haines, against students in fourth through eighth grade who had advanced through classroom competitions. That earned him the right to compete in Anchorage, and the local American Legion Auxiliary paid transportation and lodging expenses for Ketch and a parent.
Ketch’s father, Glen, also made the three-day trip. Father and son flew from Juneau and stayed in an 11th-floor hotel room in downtown Anchorage.
“The highlight was that we had a glorious, sunny day with no wind, and we got to ski Alyeska ski hill,” Glen said.
They also viewed snow sculptures and visited the Anchorage Museum, but their skiing was the most memorable.
“That’s the first time I’ve skied that ski hill in 25 years,” Glen said. “It’s a beautiful ski hill, and I remembered it being beautiful, and it was way prettier than I recalled.”