SeDoMoCha Middle School crowns 2016 spelling champion
By Stuart Hedstrom
Staff Writer
DOVER-FOXCROFT — After 19 rounds, 13 competitors taking part and 93 words, seventh-grader Madeline Taylor stood as her school’s top speller during the sixth annual SeDoMoCha Middle School District Spelling Bee on the evening of Jan. 7.
Observer photo/Stuart Hedstrom
THEY CAN ALL SPELL RATHER WELL — On Jan. 7 SeDoMoCha Middle School hosted the sixth annual district spelling bee, with the top spellers from grades 5-8 competing for the chance to move on to the Maine State Spelling Bee in March at the University of Southern Maine in Portland. Seventh-grader Madeline Taylor won the bee with grade 5 student Cody Chambers finishing as the runner-up. Bee participants were front, from left, Kelli Black, Jasper Makowski, Adam Taylor, Chambers, Anna Raynes and Angel Williams. Back, Tyler Moore, Taylor, Zachary Warren, Kylie Butts, Elisabeth, Rachel Mullis and Makayla Landry. Also qualifying for the bee was sixth-grader Madison Andrade-Swan.
After nearly a dozen rounds, Taylor — who came in second place a year prior — and fifth-grader Cody Chambers were the last two spellers in contention. For seven more rounds the pair both correctly identified all the letters in their words before Taylor correctly spelled mogul. She then had personnel, which she spelled with ease to become the 2016 SeDoMoCha Middle School District Spelling Bee champion.
The Jan. 7 bee serves as the Piscataquis County qualifier for the Maine State Spelling Bee, which is being sponsored by the Portland Press Herald and is scheduled for Saturday, March 19 at the University of Southern Maine in Portland. Chambers will serve as the alternate if Taylor is unable to attend the state bee.
“Welcome to the 2016 SeDoMoCha School Spelling Bee,” literacy teacher and bee organizer Carolyn Clark said to the participants and spectators before the start of the competition. She then thanked the three judges — Principal Julie Kimball, Assistant Principal Nathan Dyer and School Secretary Sue McNulty — and grade 8 social studies teacher Dyan McCarthy-Clark “our announcer tonight.”
“The classroom teachers do the grade level spelling bee and that’s also a lot of work,” Clark said. “Thank you for coming out and supporting the spelling bee, I think it’s something really fun that our school does and we look forward to doing it next year as well.”
Four students from each of grades 5-8 qualified for the bee, with 13 of the 14 qualifiers able to be present on Jan. 7. “That’s our lucky 13,” McCarthy-Clark said, as each student was able to practice walking up to and speaking into the microphone in the front of the multipurpose room stage by spelling their first names.
As the rounds progressed, Taylor, Chambers, fifth-grader Rachel Mullis and grade 7 student Tyler Moore were left as the bee’s final four. McCarthy-Clark said, “The remaining speller has to start a new round and spell that round, the person who wins is the person who spells the two words in a row correctly.”
Taylor would end up spelling mogul and personnel in succession as she finished in first place, earning $50 for winning with Chambers receiving a $25 prize for second place.
Each student was presented with a certificate for qualifying for the spelling bee. Clark said during the next school day she would be returning the certificates, with the words each student spelled correctly written on the back.
The 2016 SeDoMoCha Middle School District Spelling Bee students are fifth-graders Cody Chambers, Rachel Mullis, Anna Raynes and Adam Taylor; sixth-graders Madison Andrade-Swan, Makayla Landry, Jasper Makowski and Angel Williams; seventh-graders Kelli Black, Tyler Moore and Madeline Taylor;; and eighth-graders Kylie Butts, Elisabeth Carlson and Zachary Warren.
Taylor joins previous winners Steffit Victoria, who won in both 2015 and 2014, Phoenix Eastman in 2013, Jenna Clukey in 2012 and Shania Roussel in 2011.
Observer photo/Stuart Hedstrom
TOP T-W-O — Seventh-grader Madeline Taylor was the winner of the sixth annual SeDoMoCha Middle School District Spelling Bee on Jan. 7, and she qualified for the state competition in March at the University of Southern Maine in Portland. Fishing in second place was fifth-grader Cody Chambers.