By Mary Bargdill
Community Post
After struggling through five misspelled words in the fourth round, the winner of New Bremen Elementary School's spelling bee was announced last Tuesday.

Elementary School's spelling bee was announced last Tuesday.
Fifth grader Marissa Frazee, daughter of Stan and Connie Frazee, walked away as the winner of her school's bee after correctly spelling the word "enzyme."

Frazee said she was excited to finally win the contest after a grueling fourth round against first runner-up Patrick Ferguson in the junior high gymnasium. Ferguson is an eighth grader and the son of Patrick and Julie Ferguson.
Second runner-up was eighth grader Jacob Kosch, son of Robert and Lori Kosch. All top three contestants will continue on to the county spelling bee in Wapakoneta at the Auglaize County Educational Service Center, on Feb. 12.
Fifty students in grades four through eight participated in the spelling bee. After competing in spelling bees in their classrooms, the top 10 students from each grade were chosen to represent their classes.
"Just putting forth the effort is quite an accomplishment," Assistant Principal and spelling bee coordinator Howard Overman said.
Approximately half of the students made it through the first round of the spelling bee. By the end of round two, seven students were still standing to continue on to round three. Only four students remained to participated in round four.
As Frazee and Ferguson waited to square off for the final round in the spelling bee, a round of applause and cheers erupted for them and fellow participants from the students assembled in the stands. Tension built in the gymnasium as Frazee and Ferguson struggled over the words: penicillin, reciprocal, ceremoniously, debris, suffrage and unanimous. The students spelled each of the words incorrectly.
Next, Ferguson misspelled "mosaic," but Frazee spelled it correctly. She then correctly spelled "enzyme," securing her position for first place in the school's spelling bee.

"I thought they did a real nice job," Overman said. "There are so many words, and they don't know what word they're going to get."

New Bremen Elementary School Principal Karen Smith was also pleased with the students' performance.

"I thought the students took their time and thought before they spelled, and that was something we taught them, so they had the best opportunity," Smith said.

This is the second year Frazee participated in the New Bremen Elementary School Spelling Bee. She also competed in last year's event. Frazee said that for this year's competition, she practiced spelling words at home with her family. She intends to prepare for the county spelling bee, as well.

"(I'm) gonna study really hard," Frazee said.

The three judges for the event were school councilor Julie Lee, junior high English teacher Nita McKinney and sixth grade social studies teacher Brigid Hegemier. Word pronouncer for the spelling bee was Curriculum Coordinator of Auglaize County ESC Virginia McClain.