Local News

Tonasket Middle School Speller to represent NCW at the Scripps National Spelling Bee

Press Release


Mar 15, 2018

Kara Willson will represent North Central Washington in Washington DC this spring in the Scripps National Spelling Bee.

It was an impressive word list that greeted spellers earlier this evening, Thursday, March 14th, in East Wenatchee at the North Central Washington Regional Spelling Bee sponsored by the Washington Apple Education Foundation (WAEF).  44 students from grades 4th - 8th qualified to compete in the regional spelling bee representing schools in Okanogan, Grant, Chelan and Douglas counties.  Each of the participants earned their place in the regional spelling bee by scoring as one of the top two spellers in their school spelling bee.

The winning word was “recidivist” for eight grade student Kara Willson who survived six rounds to capture this year’s title and win a trip to the Scripps National Spelling Bee in the Washington D.C. area in May.  Recidivist is a noun that came from French, which formed it from a Latin word, and means one who persists in a crime: a habitual criminal. 

Manson Middle School sixth grade student Ella England earned second place and Kalea Macon, an eighth grade student at Foothills Middle School placed third. 

The NCW Regional Spelling Bee, held at Eastmont Junior High School, was presented by the Washington Apple Education Foundation for the 7th year.  The format was of a traditional “spelldown” with each student receiving one word per round.  At the end of each round, those who spelled their words correctly continued onto the next round.  Approximately ­­­­­­300 guests filled the auditorium to support the spellers.

Spellers were given a word list to study in advance of the regional competition.  This word list was utilized in early rounds of the contest with the final rounds consisting of words students had likely not studied. 

In addition to the six-day trip to Washington DC to participate in the Scripps National Spelling Bee, this year’s champion won a one-year subscription to the Encyclopedia Britannica’s online edition, and the Samuel Louis Sugarman Award.

Second and third place winners each received a $50 Amazon gift card.

The Washington Apple Education Foundation (WAEF) is the charity of the tree fruit industry.  Founded in 1994, WAEF coordinates, promotes and develops charitable activities reflecting tree fruit industry member priorities.  The organization is best known for its scholarship program.  In 2017 WAEF awarded approximately $1 million in scholarship aid to students raised in tree fruit industry communities.

For more information on WAEF or the NCW Regional Spelling Bee, contact the WAEF office at (509) 663-7713 or visit www.waef.org.

 


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