Finishes 6th out of 42 spellers
Representing Mountain Lake Public School (MLPS) at the South Central Service Cooperative (SCSC) Regional Spelling Bee, held Tuesday, February 21, in the Conference Center on the campus of South Central College in North Mankato was Mountain Lake Public High School eighth-grader Sabrina Hanson, daughter of Mark and Cheri Hanson of Mountain Lake.
Sabrina advanced to the SCSC Regional Bee after winning the MLPS Spelling Bee for grades five-through-eight on Thursday, January 19.
At the Regional Bee, Sabrina finished 6th out of 42 participating spellers.
At the regional contest, Sabarina advanced to the sixth round, and was eliminated by the word junta. (Prounounced ˈho͝on(t)ə, the definition of junta is a military or political group that rules a country after taking power by force.)
According to her mom, “Too bad she didn’t get the word Fletcherism (the practice of chewing food until it is reduced to a finely divided, liquefied mass: advocated by Horace Fletcher, 1849–1919, U.S.nutritionist) or babushka (in Poland and Russia – an old woman or grandmother and in North America – a headscarf tied under the chin, typical of those worn by Polish and Russian women).” Fletcher is the name of Sabrina’s brother, and she is a native of Russia, with babushka a common name to the Mountain Lake Public High School eighth-grade student.
Coordinating the MLPS Spelling Bee and the school’s representative in the SCSC Regional Spelling Bee is Pam Osland, Mountain Lake Public Elementary School Library Coordinator.
Winning the 2017 Bee – and the right to advance to the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D. C., held the last week of May, representing the SCSC – was Briana Joseph, a seventh-grader from Fairmont Junior/Senior Public High School. Briana was named the winner following a Bee that featured a historic 47 rounds. Eighth-grade student Emily Spieker from Dakota Meadows Middle School in North Mankato finished second – after a 27-word head-to-head match with Briana. Jack Neinstad from Shakopee West Junior High School was third, exiting in round 18. Fourth was Emily Sullivan from LeSueur/Henderson Public High School, leaving in round 14.
The SCSC sponsors the Spelling Bee for the South-Central Region of Minnesota. Counties covered by this event include both Cottonwood and Watonwan Counties, along with Blue Earth, Brow, Faribault, Le Sueur, Martin, Nicollet, Sibley and Waseca Counties.
The Scripp’s National Spelling Bee is the nation’s largest and longest-running educational promotion, administered on a not-for-profit basis by The E. W. Scripps Company, along with local spelling bee sponsors in the United States, American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, and Department of Defense Schools in Europe; also, the Bahamas, Canada, Ghana, Jamaica, Japan and South Korea.
The purpose of the series of Spelling Bees is to help students improve their spelling, increase their vocabularies, learn concepts, and develop correct English usage that will help them all their lives.