Spelling bee returns to Niwot Elementary

Her winning word may have been 'mystified', but fifth grader Sylvia Madry was anything but as she outlasted 11 other contestants to take first place in the 13th annual Niwot Elementary spelling bee, held Dec. 1. The repeat champion correctly spelled a total of 14 words, including 'technique', 'drudgery', and 'permanence', but it was the first round word she found most memorable afterwards.

"My favorite word was 'mink', because the definition was hilarious," she said.

For the win, Madry received a blue ribbon, a handsome certificate, and her choice of a hard copy or online American Heritage Dictionary. She will also represent the school in the 2022 regional spelling bee in early 2022.

Niwot Elementary hosted its first spelling bee in 2008 as a way to "give academics an opportunity to shine," and it's been an (almost) annual event ever since, with third grade teacher Julie Breyer as the sponsor. The competition is open to all third, fourth and fifth-grade students, who take three rounds of written tests before the field is narrowed down to a dozen or so finalists for the final oral round.

During the finals, contestants are allowed to ask for the definition and origin of their words, and can have the judge use it in a sentence. However, spellers don't have any margin for error. Once a contestant says a letter out loud, it can't be retracted, even if he or she knows the correct letter.

The 2020 bee had to be canceled due to the pandemic, so all but one of this year's contestants-Madry-was a first-timer. She competed as a third-grader in 2019, and took first place after an epic competition that lasted 34 rounds and took two days to complete.

Madry wouldn't need quite as much stamina in 2021, but the "new-bees" didn't go down easily. Runner-up was fifth-grader Moira McGuire, who confidently spelled 'contessa', 'Wales', 'morbidity' and 10 others before tripping up on 'abdomen' in the 14th round.

"I know how to spell 'abdomen', but I just didn't get it right today," she said afterwards, prompting her twin brother Elijah, one of the other 11 contestants, to offer his spelling of it. She went on to say that she didn't spend much time preparing for the competition with Elijah, but competing against him had been "really fun."

Now that the bee is behind her, McGuire plans to go back to her first passion, reading.

"Ever since I learned how to read, I can't stop reading," she said.

This year's third-place finisher was Eden Himmerick, a fourth-grader in Mrs. Tagley's class. She successfully made it through 'granules', 'instinctive', and 'discriminating,' but missed a letter in 'intolerance' during the 12th round. Himmerick and McGuire each received a certificate and a word-of-the-day calendar for their high finishes.

Other competitors on the day included fifth-grader Curran Squire, who made it through six rounds but was tripped up on 'invigorating' in the seventh.

"I felt like it was a hard word," he said afterwards. "It had many levels."

Other fifth-graders in the bee were Kian Koslowski, Jude Ritzenhein, Elijah McGuire, and Sammy Spanring. Fourth-graders were Joey Marcoux, Jeeya Karande, Sophie Shaw, and Atticus Sheidenhelm.

(Click here to see more of our photos from the 2021 Niwot Elementary Spelling Bee.)