Congratulations to Turrill Elementary School Spelling Bee contestants and winners

Congratulations to Turrill Elementary School Spelling Bee winner, Nathan Jasper (left) and runner-up Kane Sweet. Both are 4th grade students.

The competition was hosted in January. To see photos of the entire group go to the photo gallery.

Schickler Elementary School spelling bee

Fifth-grader Kylee Roberts won the Schickler Elementary School spelling bee on February 16 correctly spelling "enfranchise."

Cody Cruce wins the Mayfield Spelling Bee competition on February 11

Sixth-grader Cody Cruce was named the spelling champ after correctly spelling "vanilla" during the Mayfield Spelling Bee on February 11. Fifth-grader Hope O'Neill was named the runner-up and sixth-grader Beth Adams the alternate.

Sixth-grader Cody Cruce will represent Mayfield Elementary School in the Lapeer County spelling bee after he emerged the winner in a spelling competition at his school on Thursday, February 11.

His secret for success? He reads a lot and controls his nerves when spelling in front of a crowd.

Cody won the competition at his school when he correctly spelled “vanilla” after other students were eliminated in the multi-round spelling bee.

“It just really seems to come to me,” Cody said of his spelling skills.

Mayfield will send two students to the county spelling bee. Fifth-grader Hope O’Neill will join him in the competition after finishing second Thursday. Sixth-grader Beth Adams finished third and will serve as alternate, competing at the county level if Cody or Hope are unable to attend.

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.

Lynch Elementary held its spelling bee on Monday, February 8. Allison Vestbjerg won the Lynch competition and will represent her school in the county-wide bee. Seaton, Murphy and Maple Grove elementary schools will conduct their spelling bees next week to determine which of their students will compete at the county level.

Allison Vestbjerg is top speller in bee at Lynch Elementary

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.