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PIERCETON – Fourth-grader David Carter went through nine rounds of the Pierceton Elementary School spelling bee competition Tuesday before correctly reciting the letters for rickety and pediatric to take the school championship title.
In the gym with classmates and guests looking on, fifth-grader Roman Palmer gave Carter a run for his words, as the two spelled through cosmetics and frustration and “brandished” and anguish before the final round, according to a news release from Whitko Community Schools.
Fourth-grader Lela Stevens didn’t make the bee a breeze for either one of them. She put the guys through their paces for three rounds which included tricky nouns like faraway, pirates and wooden in round 3: breakfast, acrobat and chocolate in round 4; elephant, recipe and surprise in round 5, before leaving the field with a misspell of the problematic scorcher in round 6. Carter and Palmer advanced with fragments and unleash.
A dozen spellers representing third, fourth and fifth grades started the competition as classroom champions and nine received the judges’ unhappy news regarding misplaced letters within the first two rounds.
Carter advances to the NE Indiana Regional Qualifier for the Scripps Spelling Bee, which includes an online testing platform qualifier before advancement to the Regional Bee.
