FULTON COUNTY CHAMPS … The Fulton County Spelling Bee Champions stand for a picture after winning the competition for their grade level. Names given left to right. Liam Hageman, Grade 4, Archbold; Alec Fruchey, Grade 5, Wauseon; Keegan Bird, Grade 6, Pettisville; Ryan Bishop, Grade 7, Pettisville; Genevieve Heising, Grade 8, Pettisville. (PHOTOS BY JACOB KESSLER, STAFF)
By: Jacob Kessler
This week saw spelling bees take place in both Fulton and Williams County. Schools from each district had students present to represent their school. At each event, parents and friends came to support their speller.
The Williams County Spelling Bee took place first and was held at the Stryker High School in the Auditorium.
Participating students were Brenna Creighton & Aaron Cheeseman from Stryker, Ansh Sharma & John Deitemeyer from St. Patrick Catholic School, Morgan Cape & Aaliyah Spangler from St. Mary Catholic School, Carter Eckley & Rachel Sparks from North Central Schools, Rowen Saneholtz & Payten Hall from Montpelier Schools, Savannah Thompson & Tina Dickinson from Millcreek-West Unit Schools, Logan Samper & Alyvia Yoder from Edgerton Schools, Peton Robinett & Shianne Trausch from Edon Northwest Schools, Adam Elzey & Emma Elkins from Bryan City Schools.
The Fulton County Spelling Bee took place at the Northwest Ohio Educational Service Center located in Archbold.
Participating students were Liam Hageman, Jovie Nofziger, Brady Culler, Payton Weible, and Emma Krukowski from Archbold, Jaydn Nyquist, Cadence Barkhimer, Jacob Schlatter, and John Barkhimer III from Delta, Carly Cook, Emerie Schmidlin, Weston Placzkiewicz, and Bailey Lumbrezer from Evergreen, Divinity Smith, Tucker Johnston, Madelynn Whetro, Gabe Dowland, and Logan Tussing from Fayette, Landon Clark, Margaret Ripke, Keegan Bird, Ryan Bishop, and Genevieve Heising from Pettisville, Amelia Gergely, Dylan Johnson, Julian Ramirez, Gabe Graham, and Garrett Benson from Swanton, Andraez Rodriguez, Alec Fruchey, and Bethani Tibbs from Wauseon, Abigail Storeholder, Tyler Clancy, Helio Jaurez, and Ethan Grasser from Holy Trinity
Students from each school competed against one another in rounds. The Williams County competition had each student from all different grades competing against one another with Fulton County students competing against each other by grade.
Words started out easier and gradually became harder as time went on. Some words that were given throughout the competitions were windbaggery, flipperling, cowlick, allergenic, and petrifying.
Throughout the rounds as more and more students were eliminated, the final rounds began before finally reaching the end with the winner spelling the final word correctly.
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WILLIAMS COUNTY CHAMPS … The Williams County Spelling Bee Champion and Runner-up stand on stage after competing in the competition. Names are given left to right. Champion Adam Elzey, Bryan City Schools; Runner-up Aaron Cheeseman, Stryker Local Schools.
In Williams County, the winner was Adam Elzey. Adam is a sixth-grade student from Bryan City Schools. Runner up was Aaron Cheeseman, a seventh grader from Stryker Schools.
In Fulton County, the winners are Liam Hageman from Archbold for the fourth-grade competition, Alec Fruchey from Wauseon for the fifth-grade competition, Keegan Bird from Pettisville for the sixth-grade competition, Ryan Bishop from Pettisville for the seventh-grade competition, and Genevieve Heising from Pettisville for the eighth-grade competition.
All students who participated also received a medal and certificate of participation. The first-place winners received a trophy to take home in addition to the medal and certificate.
Family and friends stood by as the students took pictures with their awards before they left. In a true spelling bee fashion, a way to sum up both nights is by saying F-A-N-T-A-S-T-I-C.
Jacob can be reached at jacob@thevillagereporter.com
