Huron County B-E-E

NORWALK — North Point Educational Service Center's annual spelling bee returned. On Wednesday, May 7, 45 eager spellers from several Huron County school districts — including Western Reserve, South Central, Norwalk, Monroeville public and parochial and Bellevue public and parochial — filled the stage at Ernsthausen Performing Arts Center in Norwalk for the annual North Point Educational Service Center Huron County Spelling Bee. The participants had qualified in their local districts and came from fourth through eighth grade. With Jeanne Lawrence as the pronouncer, and Tammy Robinson and Jen Thayer keeping score, the competition commenced at 6:30 p.m. After a short introduction of welcome and thank yous by Linda Stauffer, the Bee Coordinator, the students stepped up to the microphone to receive their word to spell. This went on for 13 rounds. The final word was spelled correctly by Joseph Morrow, an eighth-grade student from Bellevue Middle School. The first runner up, taking second place, was Miles Woodard, a sixth-grade student from Bellevue Immaculate Conception School. Third place went to Reyna Czech, an eighth-grade student from Bellevue Middle School. Fourth place had been decided by an exciting run-off between Kason Lucal, a sixth-grade student from South Central Middle School, and Jayden O'Bryan, a sixth-grade student from Norwalk Main Street School. O'Bryan spelled his final word correctly and took fourth place. Each of the four places received a Bee trophy, while all participants present received certificates of participation. A benefit of this type of competition is not only for the students to study word lists and practice their knowledge of vocabulary and languages, but also to gain experience in public speaking, standing straight and tall on stage in front of a crowd. Nerves play an important part in coming out of such competition as a winner. Every year, North Point Educational Service Center looks forward to giving students the opportunity to go far beyond the classroom setting.