by Dennis Dalman
editor@thenewsleaders.com
Three Sartell students excelled as “tops” in the Jan. 26 District 748 Spelling Bee, correctly spelling words such as “naysayer,” “owlishly” and “emerald.”
Evan Windahl, a fifth-grader, was the first-place winner who spelled the most words correctly. Second-place honors went to sixth-grader Anthony Berndt, and seventh-grader Luke Zacher placed third.
Those three students will represent Sartell-St. Stephen schools at the regional spelling bee Feb. 11 at Resource Training and Solutions in Sartell.
At the Jan. 26 bee, 29 students, grades 5-8, participated in the district-wide competition. To advance to that level, those students participated in spelling bees in their classrooms and then in their grade levels. Students from each grade advanced to the district competition along with 10 students from St. Francis Xavier School in Sartell.
Mastoni’s Pizza and Great River Bowl donated gift certificates to each participant, Coborn’s Store donated alphabet pasta for each participant, and Traut Wells donated water for refreshments. The spelling bee is partly funded through the Sartell-St. Stephen Education Foundation.
