by Cori Hilsgen
news@thenewsleaders.com
Kennedy sixth-grade student Andrew Theisen won the district spelling bee held Feb. 6 at St. Cloud North Junior High School.
Theisen first competed locally at Kennedy with other fifth- and sixth-grade students. Sixth-grade teacher Michaelene Lucia said the first round of the bee was a written round in which all of the fifth- and sixth-grade students participated. The second round was held in the cafeteria with the top 10 fifth- and sixth-grade students competing. Theisen won first place and Savannah Henkel won second place. Both sixth-grade students received ribbons.
Theisen then went on to win the district spelling bee. At the district level, Theisen competed against Lincoln fifth-grade student Simon Jordon for 15 rounds before winning in round 23 with the championship word “chocolate.” He advances to the regional spelling bee, which was held Feb. 13 at Resource Training and Solutions in Sartell.
“All of us at Kennedy are proud of Andrew and wish him success in the regional meet,” Lucia said.
Seventh-grade Kennedy student Beth Voigt also competed at the district level. Voigt was the winner of the Kennedy seventh- and eighth-grade spelling bee. Language -arts teacher Kelli Mauer said 20 students participated in the Kennedy bee, 10 from each grade. Voigt was the winner and the runner-up was Caity Popp, both seventh-grade students.
Savannah Henkel (left) and Andrew Theisen (right) were the winners for the fifth- and sixth-grade spelling bee held at Kennedy Community School. Theisen went on to compete at and win the district spelling bee.
Beth Voigt (left) was the winner and Caity Popp (right) was the runner-up of the seventh- and eighth-grade spelling bee held at Kennedy. Voigt competed at the district spelling bee.
