How do you spell A-W-E-S-O-M-E?  

On March 9, 2023 at Grand County High School in Moab students from throughout the region participated in the Southeast Education Service Center regional spelling bee.  All the contestants prepared for this year’s Bee by studying thousands of words, hoping to take top honors at the Region Bee.  The top three District spellers, plus Pinnacle Academy, grades 4 through 8 advanced to the Region Bee from bees held in their local schools and districts earlier this year.

Luke Jeppesen, 8th grader from Albert R. Lyman Middle School in San Juan School District, earned the designation as top speller after a competitive twelve rounds in the annual Southeast Education Service Center Regional Spelling Bee. As winner, Luke will get to compete at the Scripps National Spelling Bee in National Harbor, Maryland. Luke began the bee correctly spelling words such as: gotcha, spindle, sailage, docket, collie,and  pitiful. Some of his other words included: existence, hipsterism, merchandise, and redemption.

Second place speller Cadi Heaton, 7th grader from Mont Harmon Middle School, gave Luke a run for his money as they went head to head for 4 rounds.  Cadi misspelled “irritability.” At this point Luke correctly spelled “posterity”, and finally the championship word “caboodle.”

Jaivery Pitchforth from San Rafael Middle School, returning for her second year to the regional bee, had a great showing with a 3rd place finish.

Sponsored by the Southeast Education Service Center, this year’s Region Bee was held at Grand County High School.  Thanks to Jessie Magleby from Grand County Public Library, who was this year’s pronouncer. Johnna Boyack and JoLynn Torgerson served as judges. The Region Bee is a preliminary competition in the Scripps National Spelling Bee held during Bee Week May 28–June 2, 2023 in National Harbor, Maryland.

As first place speller, Luke received a trophy and an all-expense paid trip for him and a chaperone to attend the 2023 Scripps National Spelling Bee, The Samuel Louis Sugarman Award, 1 year of Britannica Online Premium and 1 year of Merriam-Webster unabridged Online subscriptions. Second and third place spellers received a trophy, and all other participants received a plaque of recognition for making it to the regional bee.

Competing from Carbon District were Everett Ellsworth, 7th  Mont Harmon Middle, Cadi Heaton, 7th Mont Harmon Middle, and Evie Bates Wood, 5th Castle Heights Elementary.

Emery District sent Jaivery Pitchforth, 6th San Rafael Middle School, Raegan Behling, 5th Ferron Elementary, and Jade Weyant, 8th  Canyon View Middle School.

Spellers for Grand District include Flint Lugers, 7th from Margaret L. Hopkin Middle School, along with Coral Cameron, 6th, and Nolan Knutson, 5th, from HMK Elementary.

San Juan District spellers were Olive Harris, 5th Blanding Elementary, Hyrum Vess 7th, Monticello High School, and Luke Jeppesen, 8th ARL.

The Pinnacle Canyon Academy participants were Colton Day, 5th, Carter Bias, 8th, and Kaiden Broadbent, 7th.

The Scripps Bee is the nation’s largest and longest-running educational promotion, administered on a not-for-profit basis by The E.W. Scripps Company. The Bee’s purpose is to help students improve their spelling, increase their vocabularies, learn concepts, and develop correct English usage that will help them all their lives.

We would like to thank the schools, parents and administrators for supporting our regional bee. We would also like to thank Todd Thompson, Principal of Grand County High School, who served as MC along with presenting the awards to the students. Congratulations to all those spellers who competed, and best wishes to Luke as he competes in the National Spelling Bee this year!