The Haines and Klukwan spelling bees had repeat winners this year as fifth grader Willa Stuart and sixth grader Raven Hotch both won for the second year in a row.
The Haines contest on March 1 was short with only three spellers in the final round, Stuart and fourth graders Nathan White and Maddox Rogers.
White went out on the third word, misspelling “chapel.” Stuart and Rogers each spelled several words until Rogers flubbed on “sparsely.” Stuart won on the word “disengage.”
Stuart said she had been studying the 450-word list since January.
“My mom and dad asked me words off it to study,” Stuart said. She has already started to study the more extensive word list for the state competition.
“There are a lot more words and some pretty hard words on there,” she said.
Karen Garcia and Sara Chapell served as judges, with teacher Mark Fontenot as the pronouncer.
In Klukwan on March 2, Hotch managed to best Douglas Adams, who placed second, with Michaelene “MJ” Hotch placing third. Spellers cycled through over 100 words during the bee. Hotch’s winning word was “castle.”
Other participants included Aiden Clarke, Ezra Nash, Noah Nash, Emery Tipkemper-Wolfe, Kobe Brew, Jordan Verhamme, Ocean Nash and Stella Ordóñez. Teacher Fran Daly judged, with head teacher Jessica Tipkemper as the pronouncer.
Both spellers have the opportunity to represent Haines and Klukwan at the state competition in Anchorage on March 29.
“I want to make it farther into the state spelling bee than I did last year,” Stuart said. She lasted into the third round of the bee last year, going out on the word “trattoria,” which is an Italian-style eating establishment.