Fourteen students represented Big Sandy in the Chouteau County Spelling Bee on Tuesday, March 3rd, six of them third and fourth graders, eight of them fifth, sixth, and seventh graders. Third and fourth graders who compete and win do not get to go to state. No third and fourth graders advanced to the final round this year.
In the 5th, 6th, and 7th grade round, about 40 students competed in all, and about 5 made it to the 2nd round. The words were harder this year, such as fallacy, oculus, pyrotechnics, and rutabaga. In the final round, Josh Hagen, Calie Hanson, and I were left. We went on for about 6 rounds, when the judge decided that if one of us got it right and the other two didn't, we would automatically win the Bee. That next round, I got the word galapago, and to be honest, I didn't know what it meant, so I spelled it Galapagos, but without an S or capital G, and then surprisingly, that was my winning word! By that point, I was shaking and breathing a lot, much heavier than I was when we started.
The final placings were Ryder Oats, 4th, Calie Hanson, 3rd, Josh Hagen, 2nd and Hunter Moore, 1st.
I will compete at the Treasure State Spelling Bee in Bozeman on Saturday, March 14 at 1:00.
