The annual Nemaha County Spelling Bee was held in the Centralia gymnasium on Saturday, January 25, 2025. Students in grades fifth through eighth grade who qualified in their school spelling bee attended the county one. The top spellers representing Nemaha Central that attended were Jayla Nolte, 8th grade; Anna Jost, 8th grade; Mason Enneking, 7th grade; Lily Romney, 6th grade; and Norah Palmer, 5th grade.
To start the morning off, qualifiers from Nemaha Central, Sts. Peter and Paul, Centralia, and Sabetha lined up and prepared for the contest. The spellers randomly selected a number to decide the order of competition beforehand. The order that the spellers were in would be the same for the rest of the contest. The winner of the spelling bee would advance to the Sunflower State Spelling Bee in Salina.
The announcers started with a practice round so that students could get comfortable with spelling words and using the microphone. During the practice round, students were told to state their name, grade, and school. Soon, the real bee had started and every word made the spellers think. Some tough words used included “mutton chops," “mañana," and “floridly." After 15 rounds, it quickly got down to four spellers: eighth graders Jayla Nolte and Anna Jost from Nemaha Central, and fifth graders Piper Koch and Draidyn Mueting from Centralia.
The spellers went back and forth until, in one round, Jost misspelled a word and was eliminated. In the next round, all three finalists missed their words. This meant that, if all of the spellers misspelled in one round (in which they did), they could all come back in and continue competing. After this happened, the spellers were relieved and a little less uptight over the situation. After those last three spellers went at it for about five minutes straight, another word was given, and Mueting spelled it correctly. Koch then misspelled her word, leaving her in third place and making it Nolte’s turn.
The stakes were high, and audience members held their breath precautiously. Nolte misspelled her word, “floridly," ending the round. A new round started and Mueting needed to correctly spell one more word to win and claim his place in the state bee. After correctly spelling “conch," Mueting secured his victory and was titled the 2025 Nemaha County Spelling Bee winner.
After Mueting was pronounced as the winner, he automatically secured his place in the State Spelling Bee that will be held on March 22, 2025, at Kansas Wesleyan University in Salina, Kansas. The alternate for the state bee will be Nolte since she placed second in the bee.
Competitor Anna Jost commented on the experience saying, “It was fun to see students from different schools in the county come together. I was proud of everyone for making it that far.”
Good job to all participants who competed in the county spelling bee, and good luck in future competitions.
Article by: Jayla Nolte