Nemaha Central Elementary and Middle School hosted their annual schoolwide spelling bee on Friday, January 7. Every class took a written test and the top three were the winners of each class. These winners went on to compete with a written test to see who would advance to the Nemaha County Spelling Bee.
In the final school competition, Mrs. Chelsey Haverkamp said the word out loud, used it in a sentence, and then said the word again. The students then wrote the word on a piece of paper. There were 25 words that the students had to spell. The students that participated in this written test were Bryce Weber, Aidan Henry, and Payson Rottinghaus, fifth grade; Lilly Leis, Bailey Snyder, and Dason Hill, sixth grade; Alex Burkitt, Marin Heinen, and Caleb Hynek, seventh grade; Hendryx Wahl and Kaysen Schlund, eighth grade. Logan Snell also qualified for the school spelling bee but was absent the day of the contest.
“The spelling bee was quiet and quick, and I liked the way it turned out,” said Marin Heinen.
The top five school spellers were Marin Heinen, Kaysen Schlund, Alex Burkitt, Hendryx Wahl and Caleb Hynek. These students represented Nemaha Central Schools at the Nemaha County Spelling Bee on Saturday, January 22 at the Nemaha County Community Building in Seneca.
At the county spelling bee, students competed for a spot to represent the county at the State bee. The winning word for the county spelling bee was “petrifying,” and a student from Sabetha Middle School correctly spelled that word. Finishing in a 4-way tie for third, was Alex Burkitt and Caleb Hynek, who represented Nemaha Central Middle School.
“Everyone tried their best and in the end, it was really close,” said Kaysen Schlund.