Medina girl top county speller

Two Medina sisters took top honors in the Stutsman County Spelling Bee recently Feb. 21 at St. Paul’s United Methodist Church, Jamestown. Sixty-nine students representing seven schools participated in the written competition.

Jennifer Dong, an eighth-grader from Medina, was the champion speller. Jessica Dong, a seventh-grader from Medina, was the runner-up. Both girls are the daughters of Xuejun Dong and Chunyun Zhang. Both girls had perfect scores after the written round and five rounds of oral spelling. A tie-breaking spelldown was held in which in the third round; Jessica misspelled and Jennifer spelled correctly.

Twenty-five students in grades 5-8 graders participated in the written competition with 10 advancing to the oral round finals. The finalists and their written and first round oral scores were: Bryson Tripp, 49/55; Lawton Allen, 50/55; Martha Scheaffer, 52/55, and Amanda Allen, 52/55, from Pingree-Buchanan; Jessica Dong, 55/55; Jennifer Dong, 55/55, and Lydia Odenbach, 54/55, from Medina; Victoria Christensen, 51/55, from Christensen Home Academy; and Ben Schulz, 49/55, and Jessica Schmitz, 50/55, from St. John’s Academy.

Other students participating in the written contest were Ben Zuther, Cody Homes and Seth Horn, from Pingree- Buchanan; Christopher Sayler, Tyler Schlenker, Josh Cook, Sierra Schlenker, Seth Weber and Austin Weigel, from Hillcrest; Abbey Partlow and Taylor Sabinash, from Kensal; and Megan Moser, Abby Carlson, Tidan Clark and Cierra Dockter from Medina.

Jennifer Dong will represent Stutsman County at the North Dakota State Spelling Bee to be held in Bismarck on March 22. The state competition is cosponsored by the North Dakota Council of Educational Leaders, the North Dakota Association of County Superintendents and the North Dakota Newspaper Association. The winner of the State Bee will advance to the National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C., from May 28-30.

Forty-four students in grades 1-4 also competed in written competition. Ribbons were awarded to the following students:

Grade One

Blue — Kalen Kinzell, Olivia Sorlie, Rylen Wick from Pingree-Buchanan; Alaina Bosche, Cale Redlin from Medina; and Kyle Johnson from Kensal

Red — Ella Grosulak, Tyra Kamoni-Hatch, Daniel Nyland and Allison Thomas from Pingree-Buchanan; and Louis Kjellberg, from Montpelier

White — Aubrey Babcock and Mikayla Torres from Hillcrest Sydne Koppang and Ana Weber, Hillcrest, also participated.

Grade Two

Blue — Sophia Bohl, Tyra Skjeret, Ella Falk from Pingree-Buchanan; Eva Perez from Medina; Carter Spitzer from Kensal; and Shania Foerderer from Hillcrest

Red — Lilly Bohl from Pingree-Buchanan; Leyton Kahler and Tye Holt from Hillcrest; Zachary Dally, and Cheyana Smith from Montpelier

White — Joshua Thomas from Pingree-Buchanan; Ceyonna Sayler, from Hillcrest; and Nora Smith from Montpelier, Leah Peckham from Montpelier also participated.

Grade Three

Blue — Emily Carlson from Medina; Natasha Haas from Hillcrest; and Kassie Boom from Montpelier

Red — Azariah Foerderer from Hillcrest and Megan Witcraft from Montpelier

White — Hunter Peterson from Pingree-Buchanan

Elleanna Lausch and Knoah Weber from Hillcrest also participated.

Grade Four

Red — Matthew Thomas, Alec Horn from Pingree-Buchanan; Gracie Gunderson from Medina; Ciarra Sayler and Isaiah Schultz from Hillcrest; and Taylor Jansen from Montpelier

Tags: community, education