Taylor spells his way to SeDoMoCha bee championship
DOVER-FOXCROFT — Following 102 words across 14 rounds for 14 participants, eighth-grader Adam Taylor stood as the last speller during the ninth annual SeDoMoCha Middle School District Spelling Bee on the evening of Jan. 10.
The field narrowed down to Taylor — who won the bee when he was in grade 6 and came in second a year ago — and seventh-grader Jack Kingsbury after nine rounds. Following another three rounds between Taylor and Kingsbury, Taylor correctly identified all the letters in banishment and then he needed to spell one additional word for the win. As the audience of family members and teachers looked on, Taylor stayed up at the microphone and said, “P,E,N,A,L, T,Y” to earn the 2019 top SeDoMoCha speller honors.
Observer photo/Stuart Hedstrom
THEY ALL SPELL VERY WELL — The top grade 5-8 spellers at SeDoMoCha Middle School in Dover-Foxcroft competed for a chance to advance to the Maine State Spelling Bee in March at the University of Southern Maine in Portland during the school’s ninth annual district spelling bee on Jan. 10. Picture are front, from left, Kaelin Clark, Beckett Taylor, Lea Schnetzer, Jack Murray, and Ian Taylor. Back, Assistant Principal Andrew Shaw, Karson Tibbetts, Ingrid Berling, bee runner-up Jack Kingsbury, Gunnar Berling-Haugh, Kholton Perry, Devonne Ward, bee winner Adam Taylor (who also came in first two years ago), Elyse Richards, Chloe Diaz, and Principal Adam Gudroe.
For his first-place finish Taylor received $50 and Kingsbury earned $25 as the runner-up. Each student also won a Encyclopedia Britannica subscription.
The Jan. 10 bee serves as the Piscataquis County qualifier for the Maine State Spelling Bee, being sponsored by the Portland Press Herald and is scheduled for the afternoon of Saturday, March 23 at the University of Southern Maine in Portland. Kingsbury will serve as the alternate in case Taylor is unable to attend the state competition.
During her opening remarks literacy teacher and bee organizer Carolyn Clark welcomed everyone and thanked the four facilitators, grade 5-8 English/language arts teachers Wendy Hutchins, Alexis Dumont, Tiffany Dever, and Carolyn Newhouse.
“What they do is ask, if they are in fifth grade then all their fifth-graders, if they want to do a classroom bee,” Clark said. Interested students then take part and four finalists from each grade move on to the school-level bee.
“So thank you teachers for taking the time and helping us out,” she said.
Clark thanked judges Principal Adam Gudroe, Assistant Principal Andrew Shaw and school secretary Sue McNulty, and long-time bee pronouncer and grade 8 social studies teacher Dyan McCarthy-Clark.
“Her dedication for tonight is a lot of hours and dedication to our spelling bee,” Clark said. She said McCarthy-Clark spends a great deal of time practicing word pronunciation.
After the bee each students was presented with a certificate for qualifying. “What I do is take your certificate and on the back of the certificate I write all of the words you spelled correctly as a nice keeper,” Clark said.
The 2019 SeDoMoCha Middle School District Spelling Bee entrants are fifth-graders Beckham Ade, Kaelin Clark, Beckett Taylor, and Ian Taylor; sixth-graders Ingrid Berling, Jack Murray, Lea Schnetzer, and Devonne Ward; seventh-graders Chloe Diaz, Jack Kingsbury, Elyse Richards, and Karson Tibbetts; and eighth-graders Gunner Berling-Haugh, Alayna Hawkes, Kholton Perry, and Adam Taylor.
Taylor joins previous winners Nathanael Brown last year, Taylor’s 2017 first-place finish, his older sister Madeline Taylor in 2016, Steffi Victoria who earned top honors in 2015 and 2014, Phoenix Eastman in 2013, Jenna Clukey in 2012, and Shania Roussel at the inaugural bee in 2011.