Spellers take spotlight
Pictured from left the North Idaho Homeschool District Bee winners who will all be competing at the North Idaho Spelling Bee Feb. 12: Ahmariah Mangabat, 4th grade; Joel Radke, 5th grade; Chloe Anglen, 6th grade; Danielle Wenstrom, 7th grade; Adam Moran, 8th grade. Courtesy photo
Pictured from left the Coeur d’Alene School District Bee winners. Fourth through eighth grade winners will advance to the North Idaho Spelling Bee, Feb. 12. Top row: Sophia Stavish, 4th grade, Dalton Elementary School; Isabella Armitage, 7th grade, Lakes Middle School; Oliver Van Atta, 6th grade, Woodland Middle School; Riley Lechleitner, 5th grade, Ramsey Magnet School of Science. Bottom row: Emerson Rakes, 8th grade, Lakes Middle School; and Faith Schultz, 3rd grade, Dalton Elementary School. Courtesy image
The North Idaho Spelling Bee is set for Feb. 12, beginning at 9 a.m. at Schuler Auditorium on the North Idaho College main campus in Coeur d’Alene.
Hundreds of students across the region have competed to get to this level, narrowing it down to 19 finalists to determine who from North Idaho will compete in the National Spelling Bee.
The public is invited to attend.
“We are very pleased that our fourth- to eighth-grade students from the five northern counties will again have an opportunity to compete for a spot in the National Spelling Bee,” said Dr. Michael Nelson, director of assessment and system performance for Coeur d'Alene School District.
Coeur d’Alene School District is overseeing the event. NIC donated the use of its facilities, staff and judges.
The winner receives an all-expense paid trip with guardian to Washington, D.C., to compete in the National Spelling Bee with a $50,000 cash champion’s prize.
In addition, prizes in the local contest have increased this year. The second place contestant will also win a chance to compete at the National Spelling Bee with an all-expense paid trip to D.C. with their guardian, if the second place contestant makes it to the 20th round of the 2022 North Idaho Spelling Bee championship.
The winner of the North Idaho Spelling Bee will also receive a $1,000 cash prize from the Idaho Character Foundation and a gold trophy. Second place receives a silver trophy.
Those who qualify to compete nationally will also receive a 2022 United States Mint Proof Set and a year’s online subscription to both “Encyclopaedia Britannica” and “Webster’s Dictionary.”
The new sponsor of the local bee is the Idaho Character Foundation (ICF), led by Dan and Kathryn Pinkerton.
ICF, a nonprofit that promotes excellent character throughout the community, signed an agreement with Scripps National Spelling Bee to sponsor the same five northern counties that The Coeur d’Alene Press and NIC sponsored for 18 years. The agreement includes ICF paying for all prizes, including the all-expense paid trips to the National Spelling Bee from May 29 to June 4.
“Participating in the local spelling bees helps encourage so many excellent character traits such as diligence, attentiveness, decisiveness, determination, humility, orderliness and thoroughness,” Dan Pinkerton said. “All of these are important for success in life, as character determines success.”
One of the competitors this year in the North Idaho Spelling Bee is Adam Moran, an eighth-grader whose older brother, Joseph Moran, won the bee four years in a row - from 2017 to 2020.
