Westwood fifth-grader student Marek Ault holds his Johnson County Spelling Bee trophy after winning the title Tuesday night.
Photo Provided by Katie Smith
Westwood Elementary student Marek Ault is excited and proud to win this year’s Johnson County Spelling Bee title.
“Me and my mom studied pretty hard,” Ault said.
Ault and his mom would often study for 20 minutes after school going over a provided list of words, he said.
Ault came out on top after competing against 19 other students at Creekside Elementary School during the “riveting” Johnson County-wide spelling bee April 16, said Katie Smith, Union Elementary principal.
Other top finishers were Creekside Elementary fourth-grader Luke Hutchens in second place, and Ray Crowe Elementary fifth-grader Manvith Tanneru in third place.
To qualify for the county-wide spelling bee, students competed against students from their school. The top placers from each school faced off for the county spelling title. This year, the competition featured a brand new word bank and more contestants than in previous years, Smith said.
Students were provided a list of words to study for the competition. After a number of rounds, the word bank switched to one that students hadn’t studied. After about eight rounds, 10 students continued with the words students were provided to study beforehand. Three successful rounds continued with students spelling words they had not practiced prior, Smith said.
It was evident that the students had studied the list and were eager to win, Smith said.
“It’s a quiet, very studious environment and everybody’s on pins and needles if they’re gonna spell it correctly or if they’re gonna hear the bell from the judges,” Smith said. “It was great.”
The spelling bee has another layer of competition compared with spell bowl, as students have to spell the words out loud rather than on paper, said David Ennis, Westwood principal.
Ennis could tell Ault had prepared for the bee well.
“I’m super proud of Marek and I know that he worked really hard to study for the word,” Ennis said. “When kids go above and beyond, it’s kind of cool to see that their hard work is rewarded.”
Ault said he feels like his hard work paid off and he’s happy to have a trophy to display in his family’s living room. The coolest part about getting the trophy was that his family was “really proud” of him and he got to speak on the announcements at school the following day, he said.
“I’ve got an actual real trophy, I thought that was pretty cool,” Ault said. “A real good-sized trophy and not one of those small plastic participation trophies.”
For this year’s competition, Johnson County Community Foundation President and CEO Kim Kasting, Franklin Community School Corporation Superintendent David Clendening, Indian Creek Assistant Superintendent Andrea Perry and Johnson Memorial Health CEO David Dunkle served as judges, while Northwood Elementary Principal Karle Hougland was the word caller.
Students from private, public and homeschool are invited to participate as long as they qualify. To qualify, a school or homeschool group should host a spelling bee and declare a winner. That winner can move on to participate in the Johnson County Spelling Bee. For more information, contact the Johnson County Community Foundation at 317-738-2213.
