St. John student wins county spelling bee

Shelley Terry, Star Beacon, Ashtabula, Ohio
·2 min read

Feb. 18—ASHTABULA — Great spellers from all over Ashtabula County got a chance to shine Thursday night in the county spelling bee at the Ashtabula County Educational Service Center.

Thanks to a little luck and a lot of preparation, Lily Perry, a seventh-grade student at St. John School won in the 13th round by spelling Penelope and cirque correctly.

The crowd of family, friends and local educators who filled the gymnasium applauded the champion and the first runner-up, Allan Billman, an eighth-grade student from Pymatuning Valley Middle School, who stumbled on the word Millian.

ACESC Superintendent Mike Candela presented each student with a trophy, a ribbon and a certificate.

"The bee showcases the talents of our brightest students," he said. "Congratulations."

Lily, whose favorite subjects are English and math, said reading and spelling are her favorite hobbies.

Allan also favors English, as well as Algebra. His hobbies are gaming, playing the piano and walking in the woods, he said.

The 45-minute spelling bee started with eight eager and anxious young spellers — four boys and four girls — ready to vie for the title of Ashtabula County Spelling Bee Champion.

The students spelled words like bossiness, potential, deviation, limbering, inaudible, crevices, counterfeit, pioneered, encompass and andromeda until only Lily, Allan and Tristan Lloyd, a sixth grader from Jefferson, were left on stage.

In Round 11, Tristan misspelled masa, which is a maize dough used for making corn tamales and other Latin dishes.

The other competitors were Colin Gifford, grade 7, Ashtabula; Olivia Burdak, grade 6, Buckeye; Bronwen Fill, grade 4, Conneaut; Lea MacMichael, grade 8, Geneva, and Ryan Sungren, grade 8, Grand Valley. Each were applauded and given a certificate and ribbon.

Ryan was honored with the title of Vocabulary Master and Lea placed second in vocabulary section of the bee, given before the actual spelling bee.

Now Lily must prepare to compete at the Area V Competition on March 1 at Hale Road Educational Center in Painesville. There she will go up against the winners from Geauga and Lake counties. That winner then advances to the national competition, slated for this summer in Washington, D.C.