Boundary County students participate and place in regional spelling bee

March 29, 2015

Several students from Boundary County placed in the 12th annual North Idaho Regional Spelling Bee, held March 21 at North Idaho College. Seventh-grade Canfield Middle School student Kendall Foster, of Hayden, won the competition, out-spelling 43 other fourth- through eighth-graders from the five northern counties of Idaho to become the champion speller in the Regional Spelling Bee. Foster previously participated in the North Idaho Regional Spelling Bee as a sixth-grader in 2014. Foster is the recipient of an all-expense paid trip to the 2015 Scripps National Spelling Bee May 24-30 near Washington, D.C., courtesy of event sponsor Hagadone Newspapers. He also received a Merriam Webster’s Third New International Dictionary, a Samuel Louis Sugarman Award Certificate, a one-year membership to Britannica Online Premium edition, a plaque, a medallion, and a North Idaho College events pass for the 2015-2016 school year. “It was evident that this year’s participants had spent a lot of time studying and were ready to compete,” said North Idaho Regional Spelling Bee Coordinator Mindy Patterson. This year’s spelling bee went on for 13 rounds. The first runner up Kiana LaCroix, an eighth-grade Coeur d’Alene Charter Academy student, slipped up on the word “kovsh.” After correctly spelling “poltergeist” in the round prior, Foster correctly spelled the anticipated championship word “yamen,” to be crowned the 2015 North Idaho Regional Spelling Bee champion. Joshua Bobbit, a fifth-grade home school student from Hayden, earned second runner-up, making it to Round 11 of the bee before tripping up on the word “staccato.” Participating students from Boundary County included: Chase Tucker, a sixth-grader who attends Boundary County Middle School, who tied for fourth place in the Regional Spelling Bee. Tyler Stockdale, a fifth-grader from Naples Elementary School, tied for eighth place. Bianca Dally, a fourth-grader from Mt. Hall Elementary School, and Jamin Bontrager, an eighth-grader at Boundary County Middle School, tied with other participants for 10th place at the competition. Each of the 44 participants from 55 schools in 11 districts across North Idaho, including private school and home school divisions, received medallions and NIC events passes. The event was sponsored by Hagadone Newspapers and coordinated/hosted by NIC.