Chalou named top speller
By Scott Mitchell Johnson
Staff Writer
PRESQUE ISLE – “Monstrosity” may very well be Hannah Chalou’s new favorite word. That’s the word she correctly spelled last Thursday to win the title of 2011 Presque Isle Middle School Spelling Bee Champion.
“I’ll never forget how to spell that word,” the beaming sixth-grader said. “On the inside, I am ecstatic right now; I am jumping up and down and screaming, but I’m not the kind of person that actually does that.”
Staff photo/Scott Mitchell Johnson
QUEEN BEES — Presque Isle Middle School bee mistress Julie Gardner, at left, presents sixth-grader Hannah Chalou her trophy for winning the school spelling bee last Thursday morning. The daughter of Renée Chalou-Ennis and Jason Ennis, Chalou will now compete with runner-up Sam Gray in the County Spelling Bee, which will be held on Wednesday, Feb. 9, at 6 p.m. at the Ashland District School auditorium. In addition to the trophy, Chalou received a foreign language package.
Interestingly, the school spelling bee started last Wednesday at 1:45 p.m., but by 2:30 p.m. there was still no winner, so the spell-off had to be continued the next morning.
“It took 81 words, 10 rounds, and two days of competition, but we finally determined our winner,” said bee mistress Julie Gardner. “It’s never taken longer than 35 minutes before. At the end of the first round, we typically lose half; this year we only lost four students, which is one-fifth of the number of kids after the first round as we had 20 students compete. Until this year, usually by the end of the second round, there may be four or five kids left. This time, by the end of the second round, only seven had been eliminated.
Staff photo/Scott Mitchell Johnson
SAM GRAY, a seventh-grader at Presque Isle Middle School, was the runner-up in the school’s recent spelling bee. He and winner Hannah Chalou will both compete in next month’s County Spelling Bee. He is the son of Sarah Ellsworth and Brian Gray.
“Having so many students last that much longer tells me that kids are getting more comfortable being on stage, teachers prepped kids better this year, and kids were practicing more and taking their time,” she said. “The big thing is they didn’t rush to spell their word at the microphone; that by far made the biggest difference this year. It’s taken some prompting but kids are starting to realize that being a good speller is cool. I’m very happy with how things went; I think our students did a great job representing Presque Isle Middle School.”
The daughter of Renée Chalou-Ennis and Jason Ennis, Chalou said she was “pretty stressed” about competing.
“I woke up Wednesday at 3 a.m. and couldn’t sleep so I practiced spelling for about an hour,” she said. “That definitely helped. From the time I won my classroom spelling bee a couple weeks ago until the school spelling bee, overall I think I studied like 5-6 hours.”
Staff photo/Scott Mitchell Johnson
KELSEY GILSON, an eighth-grader at Presque Isle Middle School, was one of the final three students to compete for the title of 2011 PIMS Spelling Bee Champion. Though she didn’t win, she represented her school very well. She is the daughter of Susan and Dennis Gilson.
Confident in her abilities, Chalou said when she was asked to spell the word “sachet,” she had to take her time.
“That’s kind of a hard word so I had to be careful with that one,” she said. “Going in, I thought I was going to bomb it in the first round, but then I thought, ‘I really want to win so maybe I can do this.’
“I was really nervous, but I thought, ‘Focus on the moment and just breath and when once we get to it, we get to it,’” said Chalou. “I made sure to say each word and ask the right questions, and it all worked out.”
Chalou said she’s always been a good speller.
“When I was home-schooled for two years I practiced spelling a lot,” she said. “I have a knack for getting words right; I don’t know why … I just like to spell.”
Chalou and runner-up Sam Gray, a seventh-grader, will now compete in the County Spelling Bee, which will be held Feb. 9 at 6 p.m. at the Ashland District School auditorium. As the school champion, Chalou received a trophy and a foreign language package.
“I’m probably going to get a nice display case and put my trophy on my wall,” she said.
Since PIMS opened in 2006 – after merging with Skyway and Cunningham middle schools – Chalou is the first sixth-grader to win the school spelling bee.
Also competing in the school spelling bee were sixth-graders Isaac Demerchant, Calli Ambrose, Emily Sjoberg, Emma O’Connell and Logan Michaud, seventh-graders Parker Lambert, Kori Malenfant, Kassidy Voisine, Kyle Rider, Grant Hemphill, Shaye McHatten and Kyle Kilcollins, and eighth-graders Kelsi Shurley, Kelsey Gilson, Angela Wang, Breanna Bennett, Chase Norton and Jeremy Gingrich.
Judges of the school spelling bee included Elaine Hendrickson, Dianne Leavitt and Gail Hagelstein.
Eleven schools will be represented at the County Spelling Bee next month.
The winner of the County bee will advance to the state bee in March.
