Allison Vestbjerg “monopolized" the Lapeer Community Schools spelling bee at Lynch Elementary on Monday, February 8 when she emerged as top speller despite tough competition from 23 other students.
Allison correctly spelled “monopolize” to take the honor and will now go on to compete against students from other Lapeer County school district. If the Lynch Elementary student wins there, she would advance to a competition against students from across the state.
The spelling bees, occurring in schools across the country, eventually will determine the competitors for the National Spelling Bee to be held in June in Washington, D.C.
Allison and the other spellers from the fourth, fifth and sixth grades competed at Lynch in front of an audience of their classmates. After her win, Allison said she is excited to move on to the next round of competition and said she always has been a good speller.
After Allison’s win, Riley Case and Samantha Schlaud, both Lynch students, challenged each other for second place by attempting to spell increasingly difficult words. Riley and Samantha battled for several rounds before Riley won by correctly spelling “ineffable” and “labyrinth” in back-to-back turns at the podium. Their competition for second place excited the audience, which erupted in applause and cheers after each round as the two students continued to challenge each other.
As runner-up, Riley would compete in upcoming bees if Allison is unable to attend.
