money Spectacular spellers compete in Denison ISD spelling bees
In a feat of dictionary dominance, spellers from four Denison ISD campuses competed in the 2022 district spelling bees with the chance to move on to next level and represent the Yellow Jackets in advanced-level spelling bees this spring.
“I want to thank each student and their parents for the extra efforts that they have given to reach their school’s district event. They are to be commended for challenging themselves and competing. Events like this sharpen their character and will help them in their future academic career,” commented Denison ISD Director of Instruction Shonda Cannon.
On Thursday, January 6, sixteen stellar spellers from B. McDaniel Intermediate gathered in the Denison ISD Administration Building to test their skills to compete in the first of three days of spelling bees. After eight rounds, victory went to fifth grader Kyle Shearin as he outlasted the competition and successfully spelled ‘adversity’ as his championship word. Following Shearin as the first runner-up was fifth grader William Burleson.
On Monday, January 10, nineteen spectacular spellers from Scott Middle School competed in their annual spelling bee event at the administration building. This bee proved to be one the most intense in recent Denison ISD spelling bee history. For each spelling bee, a word list is compiled from resources that students are given to prepare for the competition. Three SMS spellers exhausted the compiled list and then proceeded to work their way through two additional lists of words from the unabridged Merriam-Webster Dictionary before a winner could be determined. Scott Middle School eighth grader Lucy Doty correctly spelled the word ‘scandal’ to capture the medal for top speller. Following Doty, seventh grader Leo Ueno was awarded the first runner-up spot.
Both Shearin and Doty will represent Denison ISD in February as they move on to compete in the 2022 Grayson County Spelling Bee held at the Grayson College South Campus in Van Alstyne.
Tuesday, January 11, Mayes Elementary hosted the second annual bilingual spelling bees for Denison ISD students. Spellers from Mayes and B. McDaniel Intermediate gathered in the Learning Resource Center at Mayes to compete by spelling Spanish vocabulary words. In the third grade group, Diego Ramirez took first place with Norma Delacruz as the first runner-up. The fourth and fifth grade bee spellers found Matthew Balderas taking home the medal for top speller, followed by runner-up Sophia Ramirez Sanchez. And, the sixth grade bilingual spelling bee saw Perla Andaverde emerge as the winner with Emely Quintanilla as the runner-up. Ramirez, Balderas and Andaverde will compete in the Region 10 Bilingual Spelling Bees on March 3.
With the continuing concerns surrounding COVID, Denison ISD opted to host each of the spelling bees without allowing spectator access to the event and offered a YouTube stream for parents, grandparents, family members and others to watch the spellers compete live. Entire classrooms tuned in to watch their friends and cheer them on to success.
“I was so very impressed with the high levels of talent, sportsmanship and competitiveness exhibited by all our students who participated in this year’s spelling bees,” said Cannon. “The preparation and focus required to compete and win at this level reflects great maturity as well a tremendous work ethic on the part of these students. I know that they devoted many hours to studying the word lists, and their hard work was certainly reflected in their performances.”
This article originally appeared on Herald Democrat: Spectacular spellers compete in Denison ISD spelling bees
