Chalou spells her way to County title
Staff photo/Scott Mitchell Johnson
HANNAH CHALOU, a sixth-grader at Presque Isle Middle School, won the Aroostook County Spelling Bee last Wednesday evening at Ashland District School. In the final championship round, Chalou correctly spelled “carnivore” to claim the title. Congratulating Chalou on her victory are, from left: brother, Keegan Ennis; mother, Renee Chalou-Ennis; brother, Cade Ennis; Chalou, and father, Jason Ennis. Chalou will now represent The County at the Maine State Spelling Bee Saturday, March 19 at 2 p.m. at the University of Southern Maine’s Hannaford Hall.
By Scott Mitchell Johnson
ASHLAND –– Euphoric. E-u-p-h-o-r-i-c.
That’s how Presque Isle Middle School sixth-grader Hannah Chalou described how she felt after winning the Aroostook County Spelling Bee last Wednesday evening at Ashland District School.
The contest lasted 16 rounds and 82 words were spelled. In round 15, Chalou correctly spelled “aristocracy” while Noah Dubay, an eighth-grader from Fort Kent, misspelled “chimichanga.” In the final championship round, Chalou correctly spelled “carnivore” earning her the title of County Spelling Bee champion. Dubay was named the runner-up.
Surprisingly, Chalou didn’t practice for the County Bee as much as she had for her school spelling bee.
“I kind of forgot until a few days before, then I kind of rushed in a bit of spelling practice,” she said. “At the time, the County Bee seemed like a long way off and you don’t think it’s ever going to come, but the moment it’s here, you get all freaked out.
“I started practicing some the weekend before,” said Chalou, “but I only spent about an hour at most reviewing words.”
Confident in her spelling abilities, Chalou said she was very nervous about competing.
“The nerves kind of set in the moment I got in the car, and I had a stomach ache on the way here,” she said, “but once I got here, I was just shaky. When I first stepped out on stage I was thinking, ‘Oh, my gosh! I’m going to fail!’ Fortunately I didn’t.
“At the beginning of the spelling bee, I’m usually super nervous and my throat gets scratchy and I can’t talk right, but near the end, I get more comfortable being on stage. I feel more comfortable spelling in front of people I know, so it helped having my family, my homeroom teacher Mrs. [Casey] Johnson and Mrs. [Julie] Gardner, who was the bee mistress at our school, in the audience.”
As the County Spelling Bee champion, Chalou received a trophy that will sit next to her school spelling bee trophy.
“Right now my trophies will sit on a big dresser I have,” she said, “but I’m going to ask my grandmother to make me something … either a shelf or a trophy case.”
Chalou was anxious to return to PIMS the next morning to show off her trophy.
“A few of my classmates told me they’d cut me some slack and make sure I placed in the top five,” she said, “but when I go in, I’m pretty sure they’re going to be ecstatic.”
While the County Bee trophy and title are nice, Chalou is also happy about another “prize.”
“My Mom promised me that if I won the County Spelling Bee, she would buy me a cell phone,” she said, “so I’m getting a cell phone. That’ll be cool.”
Staff photo/Scott Mitchell Johnson
THE AROOSTOOK COUNTY SPELLING BEE was held last Wednesday at Ashland District School. Among those students competing were, from left, front row: Morgan Outing and Dustin DeMerchant of Caribou Middle School, and Hannah Chalou and Sam Gray of Presque Isle Middle School. Back row: Dylan Conroy of Woodland Consolidated Elementary School, Kylee Carter and Connor Burtt of Easton Junior-Senior High School, and Ben Philbrook and Marissa Chasse of Ashland District School. Chalou won the County Spelling Bee and will now advance to the Maine State Spelling Bee Saturday, March 19 at 2 p.m. at the University of Southern Maine’s Hannaford Hall.
Chalou will now represent The County at the Maine State Spelling Bee Saturday, March 19 at 2 p.m. at the University of Southern Maine’s Hannaford Hall.
“My subconscious hasn’t really registered the fact that I just won the County Spelling Bee,” she said. “After a while – probably a few days before the State Spelling Bee – I’m going to panic and realize I have to study, and study and study. I’m happy to be going onto the state bee, but it really hasn’t sunk in yet.”
Also competing in the County Spelling Bee were Ben Philbrook and Marissa Chasse of Ashland District School, Morgan Outing and Dustin DeMerchant of Caribou Middle School, Kylee Carter and Connor Burtt of Easton Junior-Senior High School, Dubay and Joshua Carringer of Fort Kent Elementary School, Zachary Ebner and Tessa Winship from the Greater Houlton Christian Academy, Kyle Ramsey from the Mill Pond School in Hodgdon, Jennah Blake and Sam Astle of Houlton Junior-Senior High School, Sam Gray of PIMS, Courtney Parent of Van Buren Elementary-Middle School, Joshua Stover and Jonathan Whitcomb of Wisdom Middle-High School, and Dylan Conroy of Woodland Consolidated Elementary School.
Unable to attend the County Bee were Thomas Lajoie from Van Buren Elementary-Middle School and Sam Horton of the Mill Pond School.
Judges of the County Bee included Ellen Libby, Danielle Long and Stephen Wierzbowski. Catherine Packard served as the bee mistress and coordinator.
