County spelling bee crowns new champion
Sanders County Spelling Bee champion Plains fifth-grader Kaitlyn Ducept holds her trophy. (Erin Jusseaume photos/ Clark Fork Valley Press)
Sanders County Spelling Bee second place winner Hattie Neesvig. Erin Jusseaume/ Clark Fork Valley Press)
Hattie Neesvig spells her word in the final round. Neesvig placed second in the contest.
Fifth-grader Jayna Hale from Dixon school spells her word.
Fifth-grader Madalyn Homola from Hot Springs keeps her cool as she listens to her word to spell.
Young Sabrina McGaughey of Thompson Falls gets some help from Dan Whittenburg as he adjust the microphone for her. (Erin Jusseaume/ Clark Fork Valley Press)
Third-place winner Piper Bergstrom of Plains holds her trophy.
Jayden Whitehawk of Dixon gets set up in the first round to spell his word.
Kaitlyn Ducept of Plains spells her final word ‘Retrospective’ in the final round to take the win. (Erin Jusseaume/ Clark Fork Valley Press)
Spelling Bee Champs are all smiles after the tough competition. L-R Annie Woodenrepresenting the Sanders COunty Ledger a major sponsor for the event, Kaitlyn Ducept of PLains first place winnner, Piper Bergstrom of Plains thrid place winner, Hattie Neesvig of Thompson Falls second place winner, Pronouncer Dan Whittenburg. (Erin Jusseaume/ Clark Fork Valley Press)
The annual Sanders County Spelling Bee took place in the county Court House last Friday with 16 competitors vying for the top trophy.
There were only two students who weren’t able to make the competition, however the remaining 14 took to the podium spelling a range of words.
Judges were represented by two First Security Bank representatives and a representative of the Sanders County Ledger.
2018 Spelling Bee director was Sara Czerwinski, official pronouncer was Dan Whittenburg and the official judges were Joanne Burk, Sara Czerwinski and Karen Dwyer.
Judges used either a green or red card to indicate whether the student spelled the given word correctly.
The competition went through five rounds, that saw the third-place getter young Piper Bergstrom go head-to-head with two other students to claim her final placing.
Bergstrom went up against Tayten Keller, a seventh-grader from Hot Springs, and Jayna Hale, a fifth-grader from Dixon, before she was able to become victorious.
The while the top spot saw a battle of the words between a student from Thompson Falls and a student from Plains.
Thompson Falls sixth-grader Hattie Neesvig stood up to the podium with the word “sonata,” which she unfortunately missed.
Next stood Plains fifth-grader Kaitlyn Ducept with the word “retrospective.” The Plains students rattled off the words and finished with repeating “retrospective” to take the overall win.
County winner Ducept will now have the opportunity to go to the state competition later this month in the hopes of bringing home another trophy for her academic achievement in the spelling ring.