On Tuesday, January 10, twelve outstanding Spartans competed in the Grade 5-8 Spelling Bee. “Our spelling bee is affiliated with the prestigious Scripps National Spelling Bee,” said Bee sponsor and Grade 8 English teacher, Thea Burke, “and a past winner from St. Johns has gone on to compete at the national level in Washington, DC.”
Competition was fierce yesterday as our students went 14 rounds to determine the winner. Students were challenged to spell words like benefitted, unsettling, temperature, and inkling until only two students remained. In the final, very intense rounds, both spellers showed great concentration and nerves of steel, and ultimately a champion was named with the correct spelling of the word “threadbare”.
"These intrepid spellers certainly demonstrated that they have the right stuff to compete at the next level," said Burke. Brennan Rowzee ‘28 was named first runner-up and is designated as the alternate for the district competition, and the winner, Max Rivera ‘29, will represent St. Johns at the Clay County District Spelling Bee on February 23rd at Lake Asbury Junior High School. Congratulations to all the spellers who competed in the Bee!
- academics