Kunal and the bee

By By

The Emery School District held their district spelling bee on Jan. 24. Those participating were the grade level winners from each school in the district with the exclusion of Emery High as the spellers can only be up to and including eighth grade.
There were 22 contestants that competed in the bee. Patty Lyman was the judge for the event and Julie Taylor was the facilitator who discussed the rules and read the words to the students.
“The school winners are the cream of the crop. They have worked so hard to be school winners and Emery District had plaques made to recognize the champions,” said Taylor.
Jed Jensen from the school district handed out the plaques to all of the school winners. The spelling rounds began with the first round where the students were given a practice word to accustom them to the microphone and the format of the spelling bee.
Taylor encouraged the students not to get excited and flustered, but to take a deep breath and make sure they understand the word they have to spell before they begin spelling. She encouraged them to pronounce the word out loud back to the presenter to make sure they have the correct pronunciation and the right word as many words in the English language have more than one spelling and/or meaning.
The students can ask the presenter for the correct definition of a word and to have the word used in a sentence.Taylor encouraged the students to repeat the word back to the judge to make certain of the word they are being asked to spell. Taylor said only three people of the 22 contestants will go on to the regional event which will include spellers from Carbon, Emery, Grand and San Juan counties. One single winner of the regional spelling bee will have the opportunity to go to Washington DC for the National Spelling Bee in June.
“Think of the word and visualize it before you spell it,” said Taylor. The students began by spelling the 100 words from their books and after those words were used up they began on alternate words. One new rule this year for the bee is in the finals if someone misses a word then the next person will have their own word to spell and will not just spell the word the other person missed.
The parents of the students were encouraged to speak up if they have pronounced a word different than the presenter during practice. She would allow the parent to say their pronunciation and the student could go ahead and spell the word. Taylor encouraged everyone to listen carefully to the words. Any protests or appeals must be made before the next round begins.
The spelling began with the first round with words like: waltz, fiesta, bagel, massage, caboose, bonanza, waffle, ninja, fresco, vanilla, topical, buckwheat, cotton and magazine. The spelling continued through 15 rounds and the field was narrowed down to three.
Kunal Sah from Green River, Brittany Fauver from San Rafael and Olivia Burton from Canyon View.
Some of the words at the end which put students out were: quarantine, laryngitis and crocuses. Kunal was given the word diminutive to spell which he did correctly and then the anticipated championship word of recurrence which he spelled to win the bee. Then Brittany and Olivia faced off for second and third with the words, plaid, agile, census and lieutenant. Brittany ended up in third place with Olivia in second place.
Everyone who participated is listed with their contestant number, grade and school:
1. Mikiah MacDonald (Cottonwood – fourth grade)
3. Shaylynn Jones (Ferron – fourth grade)
5. Spencer Fehlberg (Canyon View – eighth grade) runner-up
6. Zachary Prettyman (Castle Dale – sixth grade)
7. Chase Fausett (Huntington Elementary – fourth grade)
8. Anastasia Siaperas (Book Cliff – fifth grade)
9. Tyler Pulli (Huntington – sixth grade)
10. Morgan Thompson (San Rafael – eighth grade)
11. Olivia Burton ( Canyon View – seventh) second Place
12. Marilyn Malan (Ferron – sixth grade)
13. Whitney Murdoch (Cleveland – fifth grade)
14. Dakota Wetherington (Book Cliff – fourth grade)
15. Shaydee Murray (Huntington – fifth grade)
16. Brittany Fauver (San Rafael – seventh grade) third Place
17. Mariah Behling (Ferron – fifth grade)
18. McKlane Moss (Cottonwood – fifth grade)
19. Derick Cook (Cleveland – sixth grade)
20. Allie Osness (Castle Dale – fifth grade)
21. Hanna Nielsen (Castle Dale – fourth grade)
22. Andi Smith (Cottonwood – sixth grade)
23. Kunal Sah (Green River – eighth grade) first place
24. Bailey Rasmussen – (Cleveland – fourth grade)
Kunal Sah spelled like the seasoned champion he is as he has won the Emery District bee each year since his fourth grade year making him a four year champion. Last year he won the regional bee as well and competed in Washington D.C. in June 2006. Kunal would ask for the country of origin for the word and for a definition before spelling each word to give himself time to make sure he had the correct word in mind for spelling.
The regional spelling bee will be held March 1 at Green River High School.