District 7 Congratulates Top Spellers
On Wednesday, Edwardsville School District 7 hosted its seventh Annual Spelling Bee competition in the Lincoln Middle School Auditorium. In January and early February of this year, students began competing in the preliminary competitions that were hosted at all of the third through eighth grade schools.
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From there, the winners and runner-ups from each classroom had to compete at the building level before being able to move on to the district wide spelling bee. Nineteen students advanced to the District 7 Spelling Bee.
“The District 7 Spelling Bee allows for greater participation by District 7 students than the Post-Dispatch Regional Spelling Bee, which opens up the door for more of our students to participate in this esteemed academic event,” stated Superintendent Ed Hightower.
Although many of these students were nervous and ready to compete as they took the stage, the sounds of encouragement between participants was outstanding. Students could be seen congratulating one another for a job well-done on a difficult word or providing encouragement to one another when a student was eliminated.
At the end of the night, Lincoln Middle School students took control of the stage. Kiara Smidt, eighth grader from Lincoln Middle School, walked away as this year’s runner-up, while Lukas Bixen, also an eighth grader at Lincoln Middle School, earned the championship title for the second year in a row.
A full list of students who participated in the district wide competition is listed below:
Rebecca Thomas, Selin Aktuna, Kaiden Homan, Emma Knox, Logan Roever, Miles Massey, Carter Rives, Grace McGinness, Alexis Trimm, Mathiew Doyle, Dhruv Mathur, Kyle Polson, Mason Evans, Adrienne Rose, Usma Rizvi Joshua Perry, Lukas Bixen, Amr Sabri and Kiara Smidt.
Hightower said “This was an exciting and proud moment for all involved in this competition. Students demonstrated their courage, poise, and dedication to such an outstanding event. Congratulations to all of our participants.”
The next step for a handful of talented students is to travel to McKendree University in Lebanon, IL to represent their school at the McKendree University Spelling Bee Competition on March 7. The students listed below won their building level competition and will now advance to the Post-Dispatch Regional Spelling Bee competition.
Cassens Elementary: Rebecca Thomas – 4th Grade
Columbus Elementary: Emma Knox – 4th Grade
Woodland Elementary: Miles Massey – 4th Grade
Worden Elementary: Alexis Trimm – 4th Grade
Liberty Middle School: Mathiew Doyle – 7th Grade
Lincoln Middle School: Usma Rizvi – 7th Grade
“On behalf of the Board of Education, I want to thank the students, their parents, and our staff for making this an exceptional event,” Hightower said.
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