Schools crown spelling bee champions

    The local schools held their annual spelling bees last week with several participants moving on to the County Bee to be held Feb. 10 at 6 p.m. at the Fox Auditorium on the University of Maine at Fort Kent campus.
Carver wins GHCA
    The Greater Houlton Christian Academy held their school competition on Jan. 10 at Military Street Baptist Church for grades 6-8. Jennah Carver won the local Spelling Bee on the word antelope, with Bridgette Hill runner-up.
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GHCA SPELLERS — Jennah Carver, right, won the GHCA Spelling Bee while Bridgette Hill was runner-up.
    Others competing were Riley Warman, Alyssa Gould, Mercedes Farn, Grace Graham, Abigail Angotti, Darcie Campbell-McCarthy, Parker Sherman, Sam Carmichael, Dana Brown and Jessica Hemingway.
Hill wins Houlton
    The local spelling bee for Houlton Southside and Junior High schools was held Jan. 11 at Houlton High School. Participants were from grades 6-8.
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SHIRE SPELLERS — Natalie Hill, left, was the winner of the Houlton Southside and Junior High spelling bee. Michael Paul Taylor was runner up.
    The Bee winner was Natalie Hill, with runner-up Michael Paul Taylor. Hill won on the word “lightning,” while Taylor battled with the word “acrobat.”    Both Hill and Taylor will move on to the County Bee.
    Other competitors were Bernadette Anderson, Kolleen Bouchard, Thomas Boyce, Chloe Davis, Reinah Esposito, Lexi Fore, Jacob Fox, Olivia Gervais, Zach Guiod, Emma Huot, Kate Newman, Emma Peterson, Jordan Violette and Timothy Youngfellow.
    The County Bee winner will compete at the Maine State Spelling Bee in March at the University of Southern Maine. The Scripps National Spelling Bee will be in late May near Washington, D.C.
McAfee wins Hodgdon
    Hodgdon Mill Pond seventh grader Kevin McAfee showed off his spelling prowess Jan. 6 as he captured the school’s annual spelling bee championship.
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SUPER SPELLER — Kevin McAfee, left, a seventh grade student at Hodgdon Mill Pond was the winner of the school’s annual spelling bee. The runner up was Sydney Howell. With the two students is Rhonda Foster, assistant principal.
    McAfee correctly spelled the word “prowess” to win the title and earn the right to represent the school at the Aroostook County Spelling Bee on Feb. 10 in Fort Kent.
    According to Karen Sattler, the event was one of the longer in recent memory at Mill Pond School, lasting many rounds and featuring many challenging words. Sydney Howell was the runner up.
    “The final two went back and forth through seven rounds,” Sattler said.
    Other students participating were: Taylor Schillinger, Danny Gillotti, Jordyn Merritt, Ethan Sewell-Berry, Jasity Stoddard, Madison York, Noah McLaughlin, Sam Horton, Dylan Schillinger, Devon Dow, TJ Farrar, Joshua Malone, Nathaniel Stoddard, Jamie Palmer, Matthew Horton, Jordyn McKissick, and Brendan Curran.