Victoria repeats as spelling bee champion

By Stuart Hedstrom 
Staff Writer

    DOVER-FOXCROFT — For the second year in a row SeDoMoCha Middle School student Steffi Victoria, who is in the seventh grade, was crowned as her school’s top speller after winning the fifth annual SeDoMoCha Middle School District Spelling Bee on the evening of Jan. 8.

Observer photo/Stuart Hedstrom

    THE SPELLING ELITE — On Jan. 8 SeDoMoCha Middle School hosted the fifth annual district spelling bee, with top spellers from grades 5-8 competing for the chance to move on to the Maine State Spelling Bee in March at the University of Southern Maine in Portland. For the second year in a row seventh-grader Steffi Victoria is the bee champion, and sixth-grader Madeline Taylor finished as the 2015 runner-up. Among the bee participants (four were unable to attend) were front, from left, Victoria, Taylor and fifth-grader Olivia McCorrison and sixth-grader Kylie Butts. Middle, sixth-graders Delilah Wellington and Noah Lamb, fifth-grader Alicia Webster and eighth-grader Gunnar Ranta. Back, fifth-graders Neleha Chambers and Miles Gadwah, sixth-grader Chloe Kishbaugh and seventh-grader Benjamin Atwater.

    After a dozen rounds and over 100 words Victoria and sixth-grader Madeline Taylor were the last two spellers left in contention. With the opportunity to then have a final word to win the bee, Victoria correctly spelled flourish. Next up was the word whey, with a definition given to differentiate between weigh, which Victoria spelled with ease to become the 2015 SeDoMoCha Middle School District Spelling Bee champion.
    The Jan. 8 bee serves as the Piscataquis County qualifier for the Maine State Spelling Bee, which is being sponsored by the Portland Press Herald and is scheduled for Saturday, March 21 at the University of Southern Maine in Portland. Taylor will serve as the alternate if Victoria, who took part in the 2014 Maine finals, is unable to attend the state bee.   
    “Welcome to the 2015 spelling bee, thanks for coming out,” literacy teacher and bee organizer Carolyn Clark said to the participants and spectators before the start of the competition. “I would like to thank (elementary school secretary) Sue McNulty who put together the tickets and organized everything,” Clark said. Clark also thanked the administrators for helping out with funding the bee and bee judges Principal Julie Kimball and retired teachers Mrs. Lander and Mrs. Lockwood.
    “A big thank you to our ELA teachers,” Clark said, about Mrs. Robinson, Miss Coleman, Mrs. Fagan-Cannon and Mrs. Foster. “Within their grade levels they took the time to test their students and get them ready.” Clark also thanked bee pronouncer and grade 8 social studies teacher Dyan McCarthy-Clark, saying she does not have an easy task.
    Clark said the evening’s top speller would earn the right to go directly to the Maine State Spelling Bee, whereas other counties have district bees featuring representatives from various middle schools. “I know I usually go, it’s a great event really worth going to.”
    Four students from grades 5-8 qualified for the bee. McCarthy-Clark said several of the spellers had the flu and were unable to take part on Jan. 8, so 12 of the 16 were present. To help calm their nerves and give each student a chance to practice walking up to and speaking into the microphone, McCarthy-Clark asked the pupils to spell their first name.
    At the conclusion of the bee, Clark said, “Second place wins $25 and that was (Taylor).” She then said, “Steffi wins $50, congratulations.”
    Each student received a certificate for qualifying for the spelling bee. Clark said during the next school day she would be returning the certificates, with the words each student spelled correctly written on the back.
    The 2015 SeDoMoCha Middle School District Spelling Bee students are fifth-graders Alicia Webster, Miles Gadwah, Olivia McCorrison and Neleha Chambers; sixth-graders Madeline Taylor, Noah Lamb, Delilah Wellington and Chloe Kishbaugh; seventh-graders Steffi Victoria, Benjamin Atwater, Jacob Ireland and Kylie Butts; and eighth-graders Jacob Marsh, Gunnar Ranta, Jordan Poehmel and Graham Wilson.
    Victoria is the first repeat spelling bee winner. She joins previous winners Phoenix Eastman in 2013, Jenna Clukey in 2012 and Shania Roussel in 2011.