Minerva 8th grader wins spelling title

Eighth-grader Isiah Willison became the Minerva Middle School spelling bee champion Feb. 13 after spelling the word “engagement” correctly in the 12th round.
Seventh-grader Molly Miller was the runner-up. Students qualified for the bee by scoring in the top category of spellers after two rounds of written exams. Twenty-one students out of 441 in the middle school made it to the 29th annual event.
Isiah’s first-place win entitles him to represent Minerva Local School District in the regional spelling bee, scheduled to be held at Kent State Stark Conference Center March 4. beginning at 1 p.m.
Judges for the spelling bee were Nicole Chaddock, Heather Conn, Sarah Cox and Vicki Stafford. Richard Mikes, a retired Minerva Middle School principal, was the pronouncer. Middle School Principal Josh Morckel is the district spelling bee coordinator, and Assistant Principal David Hudson was the administrative representative and emcee.
“Thank you to our judges and to our pronouncer, Mr. Mikes. Thank you also to our sponsor, Minerva Pizza Hut for offering a personal pan pizza for each contestant,” stated Mr. Morckel. “The MMS community is very proud of all our spellers as everyone did a fantastic job! Congratulations to Isiah Willison, our new champion!”
Round-by-round results with the student’s name and word missed are as follows:
Round 1: None.
Round 2: None.
Round 3: Wyatt Stauffer, converse; Chloe Carson, emigrate; Kennedi Burgess, canine; Kaden Kandel, lured; Everett Pancoast, phouatoriom; Emery Sell, mausa; Joshua Shriner, sanskrit; Jaykub Patterson, blaphis; Alexis Gonzalez, tellenouvous.
Round 4: Isaac McPherson, mullioned; Naomi Hackbart, roulette; Aiden Cassidy, gailes; Rachel Benedict, herdy gerdy; Ayla Shellenbarger, mizuracords; Josephine Evans, vesuvian; Landon Koch, sikhism.
Round 5: Kaden Knappenberger, eurhythmics; Case Sell, caparisoned.
Round 6: None.
Round 7: None.
Round 8: None.
Round 9: None.
Round 10: Temperance Muck, noticeably.
Round 11: Molly Miller, sloughing.