Eight EUP Students Advance in Spelling Bee

Winners finishing in the top two places for their grade level in the Regional Spelling Bee at St. Ignace Middle School February 21 are: (front row, from left) Anne Archambeau of Paradise (second), Nicole Wymore of Sault Ste. Marie (first), Nicole Bouwma of Drummond Island (first), Ryan Hopkins of Bahweting (second); Adam Graber of Rudyard (second), Elizabeth Blose of Sault Ste. Marie (first), Carrie Berkompas of Rudyard (first), and Hayley Weston of Sault Ste. Marie (second).

Top spellers from 13 local schools gathered for a regional spelling bee at the St. Ignace Middle School Thursday, February 21, and two students from each grade won the right to compete in an Upper Peninsula-wide bee near Marquette in March, a prelude to competition at the National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C.

In eighth grade, victors of the regional competition were Carrie Berkompas of Rudyard and Hayley Weston of Sault Ste. Marie; in seventh grade, Elizabeth Blose of Sault Ste. Marie and Adam Graber of Rudyard; in sixth grade, Nicole Bouwma of Drummond Island and Ryan Hopkins of Bahweting School; in fifth grade, Nicole Wymore of Sault Ste. Marie and Anne Archambeau of Paradise. Each was awarded a trophy.

Students participating at St. Ignace were the winners of district spelling bees from grades five through eight at school districts in St. Ignace, Mackinac Island, Engadine, Paradise, Sault Ste. Marie (including the public school, St. Mary's, and Bahweting), Pickford, Newberry, Rudyard, DeTour, Drummond Island, and Brimley. Winners of the district spelling bees were printed in The St. Ignace News February 14 and February 21.

Friends and family members attended the February 21 competition and afterward, an awards reception took place in the cafeteria for spellers and their guests.