Fifth grader Hadley Thompson wins spelling bee

With tools like autocorrect at our fingertips, spelling words correctly might seem like an outdated skill, but it was alive and well in the auditorium on Thursday during Cleveland’s annual spelling bee.

Lasting 18 rounds to emerge as champion was fifth grader Hadley Thompson. She beat out 14 other contestants from grades five through eight. Naturally a good speller, she didn’t prepare a whole lot for the contest, she said.

“I started to practice over Christmas break, but I didn’t expect to win.”

After fifth grader Evan Hoffmann slipped on ceiling, Thompson and eighth grader Neenah Lassiter were the last two standing.

Lassiter misspelled economy but got back in the contest when Thompson errored on temperature. Lassiter mixed up peevish though, and Thompson spelled Chicago correctly for the victory.

Last year’s champion, Mattea Grandaw, now a sixth grader, tripped up on the hyphenated adjective spick-and-span.

Joanne Starke, a paraprofessional at the school, was one of four who judged the contest. She said that even though on-line spelling aids exist, students still have problems with spelling and that learning how to spell improves overall communication skills.

“In reading, it brings comprehension,” she said.

To make it to Thursday’s meet, each grade had a contest of its own. Others competing were Thompson’s classmates Jocelyn Clark and Lily McMillen; sixth graders Harper Rutz, Nolan Schlaak and Blake Stocker; seventh graders Ethan Hoehn, Jakob Hollerich, Luci Blaschko and Jax Leagjeld; and eighth graders Charlie Maxfield and Henry Boelter.

Alternates were fifth graders Anistyn Dauk and Hazel O’Keefe and sixth graders Maliah Elias and Jeremy Miller.

Other words that contestants slipped on were donkeys, exciting, actually, morals, beginning, hauling, inkling, snooty, damaged, quiet and tomorrow.

Other judges were senior Katie Cink and counselors Shanna Roloff and Megan Peterson. Virginia Grabow, a retired librarian at CHS, pronounced the words.

A member of Jeff Skinner’s classroom, Thompson will advance to the regional bee, which will be held at South Central College in North Mankato on February 21. Winners there go on to the Scripps National Spelling Bee near Washington DC on Memorial Day weekend.