Students claim spelling laurels




Friends of the Library representative Jo Leta Gavit presents a plaque to seventh-grader Stefan Deason after he won Brundrett Middle School’s spelling bee on Saturday, Jan. 7. It was Stefan’s second year in a row to win it.

Friends of the Library representative Jo Leta Gavit presents a plaque to seventh-grader Stefan Deason after he won Brundrett Middle School’s spelling bee on Saturday, Jan. 7. It was Stefan’s second year in a row to win it.

Brundrett Middle School seventh-grader Stefan Deason and H.G. Olsen Elementary second grader Stratton Mills won their schools’ spelling bees on Saturday, Jan. 7.

Mills spelled the word “flexible” and Deason spelled the word “invisible” to win, said Suzanne Dietzel, BMS spelling bee coordinator.

Second-grader Stratton Mills gets a hug from his mother, Leslie Mills, after winning H.G. Olsen Elementary School’s spelling bee on Saturday, Jan. 7.

Second-grader Stratton Mills gets a hug from his mother, Leslie Mills, after winning H.G. Olsen Elementary School’s spelling bee on Saturday, Jan. 7.

Deason also won his school’s bee in 2016.

The school bees are the first round of this year’s Scripps National Spelling Bee.

Deason and Mills will advance to the South Texas Regional Spelling Bee at the Congressman Solomon P. Ortiz International Center in Corpus Christi at 9 a.m. on Feb. 25.

One winner will emerge from the first- through eighth-graders competing in the regional spelling bee and will advance to the Scripps National Spelling Bee to be held May 28 through June 2 in Washington, D.C. The national bee will be broadcast on ESPN, Dietzel said.

Runner-up in the OES bee was Keagan Sohl. Also competing were Sean Durkin and Samantha Hemphill.

Runner-up in the BMS bee was Dylan Stebbins. Also competing were Emma Sullivan and Jenna Christensen.


Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.