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TMS student wins Thompson School District Spelling Bee

February 01, 2018 | Local News

Special to the Surveyor

Turner Middle School eighth-grader Zoe Schoo won the Thompson School District spelling bee on Jan 27. Schoo will continue on to The Denver Post Colorado State Spelling Bee. 

Streusel? Parfait? Piccolo? Those are just a few words that Turner eighth-grader Zoë Schoo conquered to win the Thompson District Spelling Bee in Loveland on Saturday, Jan. 27. After 11 rounds of competition, Zoë correctly spelled the championship word gulden, a former Dutch unit of currency.
Haley Hanks, a Turner seventh-grader, placed fifth. Both students will compete in the State Spelling Bee in Denver on March 10.
After taking a written test consisting of spelling words and vocabulary questions, six Turner students were among the 22 spellers who advanced to the oral round at the district bee. Other finalists were Kendra Maitland, Patricia Huneycutt, Abby Wiggins and Annie Wiggins.
Zoë has participated on the Turner Spelling Bee team for three years, learning thousands of words and their definitions. Turner takes a team approach to spelling competition, practicing weekly for several months, and has sent spellers to the state bee for the last five years. Coaches Lisa Paradise and Jane Vielehr stress that team members support each other and work together to improve their skills. Berthoud High School students who were former Turner spellers, including Assistant Coach Tate Rees, participate in practice bees and help coach the team.
Each year more than 10,000 students from across Colorado participate in their local spelling bees with the goal of advancing to The Denver Post Colorado State Spelling Bee which is held in Sturm Hall on the University of Denver’s campus. More than 270 of the states top spellers participated in the written spelling test and vocabulary test. The top scorers move on to the verbal round where approximately 30 students go round by round until a champion is left.
The winner of that competition will then go on to the Scripps National Spelling Bee held near Washington D.C. and aired nationally on ESPN.
Think you have what it takes to compete at that level? Visit http://spellingbee.com/take-test to see how you would fare.

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