Katie Clairmont fifth at regional bee
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| Tricia McCullough |
Valley View Elementary fifth grader Katie Clairmont made it through round seven to finish the bee in fifth place; Middle School seventh grader Maria Roy made it through two rounds and Valley View fourth grader Chase Tucker was eliminated after one round.
McCullough previously participated in the North Idaho Regional Spelling Bee as a fourth-grader in 2009 and fifth-grader in 2010.
McCullough is the recipient of an all-expense paid trip to the 2013 Scripps National Spelling Bee May 26 through May 31, courtesy of event sponsor Hagadone Newspapers.
She also received a Merriam Webster’s Third New International Dictionary, a $100 Samuel Louis Sugarman U.S. savings bond, a one-year subscription to Encyclopedia Britannica Online Student Edition, a plaque, a medallion and a North Idaho College events pass for the 2013-2014 school year.
“It was evident that this year’s participants had spent a lot of time studying and were ready to compete,” said North Idaho Regional Spelling Bee Coordinator Mindy Patterson.
This year’s spelling bee went on for 12 rounds. The second-place speller Rebekah Pinkerton, a seventh-grade homeschool student from Coeur d’Alene who won the regional spelling bee in 2011, slipped up on the word “backstein.”
After correctly spelling “terrapin” in the round prior, McCullough correctly spelled the anticipated championship word “precocious,” to be crowned the 2013 North Idaho Regional Spelling Bee champion.
Brilliana Preston, an eighth-grade private school student from Christian Center School, earned third place, making it to Round 10 of the bee before tripping up on the word “peloton.”
Each of the 44 participants from 54 schools in 11 districts across North Idaho, including private school and home school divisions, received medallions and NIC events passes.
The event was sponsored by Hagadone Newspapers and coordinated/hosted by NIC.