Spelling well at GMS

Goodrich-It’s not always easy to spell unerringly.
Literally.
Yet on Feb. 15, Goodrich Middle School student Rae Moors did just that at a school spelling bee. Under the bright lights of the stage, seventh-grader stood at a podium and spoke into the microphone; ‘U-n-e-r-r-i-n-g-l-y.?
After correctly spelling the word, which runner up Diana Svinarich had missed, Rae went on to spell ‘septuplets? for the win.
Along with the other participants, Rae was chosen after taking a grade level qualification test. Top scoring students were selected from sixth, seventh and eighth grade to compete in the school-wide spelling bee.
The winner of the sixth-grade class competition was Lindsay Czap, who spelled ‘polka? after runner-up Savannah Crane misspelled ‘Crusade.?
Failed attempts at ‘banana,? ‘southpaw,? ‘integral,? and ‘devotions,? eliminated some students. Others hung on, stating the right letters to form a variety of words including ‘abnormal,? ‘proverb? and ‘arcane.?
Eighth-grade champion Derek Warner correctly spelled ‘coyote? after runner-up Sarah King misspelled ‘sphinx?.
Spellers were allowed to ask judges to use their word in a sentence, give the definition or part of speech of the word and to inquire as to the word’s language of origin.
The judges, known as ‘spelling bee pronoucers, were GMS teachers Krista Bethke, Cindy Rivet and Dawn Robb, who also acted as event coordinator. A past year’s school pronouncer booklet was as the guide for the competition.
Winners each received a $25 gift card to Boarders. The winner and an alternate from each grade will proceed to the County Spelling Bee in March.