Soderstrom Wins Spelling Bee

by Dave Lieben

The Ketchikan Gateway Borough School District presented the first district-wide spelling bee in recent memory at the Kayhi auditorium on February 8. Schoenbar eighth-grader Laura Soderstrom overcame some tough competition to take the title, and is on her way to Anchorage, thanks to a $500 donation from Ketchikan CHARR.

All the contestents should be congratulated for making it as far as they did. There were two contestents from each grade (4-8) from each school, except for the Charter School, who sent one per grade. Tom LeCompte served as the Pronouncer, and the judges included Victoria McDonald and Patty Finegan.

The final ten students included Michael Broome, a fourth grader from the Charter School, Tera Olmstead, a fifth-grader from Houghtaling, Sarah Harpold, who is in fifth grade at Valley Park, Frances Klein, a fifth-grader from White Cliff, and Katie Morin, a seventh-grader from Schoenbar.

Students making the final five included Point Higgins fourth-grader Alissa White and Kimmie Shull, who is in the seventh grade at Schoenbar. Houghtaling sixth-grader Alexandra Hatfield-Evans finished in third place, and Tyler Preston, a fifth-grader from Charter School, finished in second place. Soderstrom sealed her win by correctly spelling "alchemy" and "dichotomy."