Chelan Speller Wins 2019 NCW Regional Spelling Bee

Information and photo courtesy of Cynthia Bertomeu, Lake Chelan School District

Top spellers from Chelan and Manson competed on Tuesday, March 19th, in a field of 29 school champions representing schools from across the region.

Olivia Strandberg, an eighth-grade student from Chelan Middle School, demonstrated cool composure as she methodically spelled her way to first place and an all-expenses paid trip to Washington D.C. to compete in the Scripps National Spelling Bee. The audience held our collective breath at the end of round 7, when Olivia was the only remaining speller, having correctly spelled “comandante.” Unfortunately, the vowels did not cooperate in the proposed championship word, “trattoria,” and Olivia returned to equal ground among the top four spellers.

Round 8 brought Olivia into the top two, and in Round 9, she correctly spelled “glockenspiel” and the championship word, “lahar,” which is “a mud flow containing much volcanic debris,” to solidify her victory. Second place went to Sarai Roldan Pina, from Clovis Point Intermediate in East Wenatchee, after she misspelled “mnemonic.”

Also proudly representing the Chelan Valley was seventh-grade student, Carter Lyman, from Manson Middle School. Carter struggled with the Russian word, “cheka,” in Round 8. He and a Quincy competitor both misspelled, which left third place as a cliffhanger, to be decided through a spell-off after the final round. Appropriately, all cliffhangers must involve a “precipice,” which Carter spelled correctly to earn third place.

Eighth-grade Chelan Middle School student, Lauren Ware, spelled such complicated words as “maestro” before tying for fifth place with only a phonetic misspelling of the Japanese word, “kudzu.” Manson Middle School seventh-grader, Ben Cullison, also performed well, representing our valley with confidenence among so many talented young spellers.

Congratulations to all of our Chelan and Manson spellers! We look forward to seeing Olivia compete at the national championship, May 26-31 at Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland.