The Paulding County Spelling Bee took place on Monday, February 8 at the Antwerp Elementary School. The young people who were able to participate had won their respective bees at their home schools in the county.
The evening started off with 10 contestants and they were excited. Ashley Shepherd was the host. The pronouncer was Doug Grooms of Van Wert City Schools. The 10 contestants were the following: Braxton Peters, Antwerp; Allison Carnes, Antwerp; Micah Jones, Christian Home Educators of PC; Lucy Conley, Divine Mercy School; Myrriah Manz, Oakwood Elementary; Jack Daeger, PAULDING Elementary; Nicholas Hatcher, Paulding Middle; Noah Schlatter, WT Grover Hill; Brock Knowles, WT Payne; and Jordan Hale, Wayne Trace JH.
The first word of the opening round was “locker” and spelled by Braxton. Jordan Hale was the first to miss his word – “hazelnut”. By round two, two young people had fallen out of the running.
By round five, there were only 4 spellers left on the stage. By the end of the fifth round only one was left but Braxton was not able to seal the win with the word “frigate”. The four spellers were back in.
It was down to two spellers for the last couple rounds, going back and forth between Allison Carnes and Myrriah Manz. Round 11 set Manz up for a potential win, but then she was not able to complete ‘whirlybird’.
It was in the 18th round that Allison Carnes clinched the title of spelling bee champion. with Myrriah Manz sitting in the runner up spot.
Allison Carnes is the daughter of Brian and Angela Carnes. She battled 18 rounds to win with the word “complacency.” The second place finisher was Myrriah Manz, daughter of Sam and Shelby Manz. Special thanks to Antwerp Exchange Bank and Antwerp VFW Post #5087 for sponsoring the awards to the top two finishers.
Allison is invited to move on to the online regional qualifier via the Scripps online testing platform. The top finishers on the online regional qualifier will advance to the Northeast Indiana Regional Spelling Bee on March 6, 2021. This spelling bee will be administered virtually through a teleconferencing platform, and the regional champion will represent the Northeast Indiana Regional Spelling Bee program in the 2021 Scripps National Spelling Bee this summer.
SPELLING BEE WINNER RECEIVES CHECK
