Most people have never heard the word “qiviut,” let alone are able to spell it correctly. It refers to the luxuriously soft underwool of the musk ox. Local speller Sonja Jacobsen sailed through that word, along with words like crepuscular, phloem, and sybaritic, to take the state title in the highest division at the Oregon State Spelling Bee in Salem Sept. 2.
Sean Counihan, Rhys Newton, and Lillian Ontiveros, all of Hood River, will be representing Hood River County this year at the Oregon Statewide Spelling Championship.
Kai Robertson, eighth grader at Horizon Christian School, spelled his way to champion at the recent Association of Christian Schools International (ACSI) District Spelling Bee in Camas, Wash. Ellie Rinella, sixth grade, took fourth place. Both students will compete in the ACSI Regional Spelling Bee later this month.
To the editor: I had the pleasure of attending the TDHS performance of “25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” this weekend and it was a true delight. I volunteered as an audience member speller which allowed me to go on stage and see up close the talent of the cast. Every single one of the actors was poised and stayed in character even while they interacted with us audience volunteers. Their ability to embody their character made me believe that caterjunes was a real word and that “Life is Pandemonium!” Also, kudos to those actors with limited stage time who engaged with audience members at intermission and kept us focused on the standings of the Bee contestants.
Sixth-grader Sean Counihan won the elementary division in the 7th annual Oregon Statewide Spelling Championship Sept. 5 at the Oregon State Fair, sponsored by Oregon Spellers.
