Niwot Elementary School student Cooper Edwards wins regional spelling bee

The Boulder Valley Regional Spelling Bee was held at Platt Middle School on March 16 with 51 contestants from Boulder and Broomfield Counties. Niwot Elementary School fifth-grader Cooper Edwards took top honors as the Spelling Bee's first place winner. Edwards is one of two students from Colorado who will be competing at the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, DC, in May. Tejas Raman, a seventh-grader at Boulder Country Day School in Gunbarrel, took second place.

A former student at Niwot Elementary, Cooper's older sister, Paige Edwards, also competed in the bee as the representative for Sunset Middle School and won Sunset's spelling bee this year.

The Regional Spelling Bee is for elementary to middle school students and was also sponsored by the Boulder Valley School District and the Denver Rotary Club.

"Bees might look different for different schools, but for the Regional Bee, students are on stage in an auditorium (Nevin Platt Middle School) with a pretty large audience, so pressure again is a real factor," said Niwot Elementary School teacher Audrey Lenger. Lenger said, "It's important for spellers to be able to center themselves and work through the word, either as a known word or taking their best guess. They can ask for the part of speech, language of origin, definition, and use in a sentence."

The process to get into the Regional Spelling Bee is not easy. Roughly 48 schools participated this year, with a total of 51 students allowed to enter the spelling bee. Niwot Elementary has three written competitions among nominees until there are only 10 students remaining, who then compete in an oral bee before being able to enter the Regional Competition.

"The biggest opportunity stemming from winning the Regional Spelling Bee is the opportunity to participate in the national bee, which is a really fun week that celebrates words," Lenger said. "There are plenty of activities, good swag, and of course the winner gets a hefty cash prize."

Cooper now may attend the Scripps National Bee which has an average of slightly under 300 students competing each year from all over the United States as well as U.S. territories. Contestants also participate in Bee Week, sponsored by the National Bee, which is a week-long occasion with special events, trips throughout Washington D C, and workshops.

Cooper said at the Regional Spelling Bee, "It's a great opportunity, and I'm going to make the most of it."