Local schools have until today to finalize their spelling bee champion for the 2014 countywide competition. According to Lakeview Middle School Assistant Principal Matt Deeds, this year’s Kosciusko County spelling bee organizer, the deadline was extended from last Wednesday because of school cancellations due to weather. Previously, the county spelling bee was held over two nights. This year it’s been limited to just one night – Feb. 4 starting at 6 p.m. in Lakeview’s auditorium. The fifth- and sixth-grade contest will be first, followed by the seventh- and eighth-grade round. The championship spell-off will conclude the night with the winner of the elementary division going head to head against the middle school division winner. In case of inclimate weather, the makeup date will be Feb. 6 at 6 p.m. Counties must complete their spelling bees by Feb. 8. Winner of Kosciusko’s county spelling bee will advance to regionals March 8 at 10 a.m. at the Rhinehart Music Center, IPFW, Fort Wayne. Winning the 2013 Kosciusko County Spelling Bee championship and elementary division was Jefferson Elementary sixth-grader Nathan Freeman. Lakeview Middle School eighth-grader Cole Hoskins won the middle school division. The elementary schools in the Kosciusko spelling bee district include Akron, Mentone, Syracuse, Milford, North Webster, Warsaw Christian, Sacred Heart, Eisenhower, Leesburg, Harrison, Madison, Jefferson, Claypool, Washington and Lincoln. The middle schools invited are Edgewood, Lakeview, Milford, Wawasee and Tippecanoe Valley. Trophies are again being sponsored by Kosciusko REMC. The winners of each of the two grade divisions also receive a $2,500 Richard R. Long Scholarship. The scholarship is given in recognition of Long’s years of service to the children, teachers and parents of North Webster School and in honor of his work for the International Palace of Sports, now known as the Shoop Sports and Youth Foundation. The Shoop Foundation funds the spelling bee scholarships to help provide future higher education for the spelling bee winners. Deeds said the proctor for this year’s spelling bee is Grace College Professor Paulette Sauders. There will be three judges and a recorder, to be determined. Every two years the spelling bee is passed to another school corporation to run, Deeds said. This year and next is Warsaw Community Schools’ turn. Deeds said Assistant Superintendent David Hoffert asked him to coordinate and he was happy to do so. “Everyone is invited and welcome to come,” Deeds said.
