Lyon County School District to send 4 to Vegas for state Scripps National Spelling Bee finals

Kwashiorkor, affenpinscher, hsaing-waing, whippoorwill — these are only a few of the many challenging words participants in the 2020 Scripps National Spelling Bee could potentially be presented with and have to spell correctly in order to advance their hopes of becoming the 2020 National Champion.

The Scripps National Spelling Bee has a variety of levels — The Nevada state spelling bee will be held on March 21, 2020 in Las Vegas where Lyon County School District (LCSD) will have four student competitors. The 2020 Scripps National Spelling Bee will occur on May 24-29, 2020.

The path to the Scripps National Spelling Bee, however, begins in your child’s classroom. For grades 5th through 8th, three spellers from each grade are selected from each school to participate in the LCSD spelling bee. This year’s LCSD spelling bee was held at Yerington Intermediate School on January 22, 2020.

The following are LCSD’s Spelling Bee winners: 2020 Scripps National Spelling Bee District Winners and Champions:

Grade 5:
First Place: Champion: Connor Kachelmeyer – Yerington Intermediate School
Second Place: Alleacia Williams – Silver Stage Elementary School
Third Place: Frank Fiesta – Fernley Intermediate School

Grade 6:
First Place: Champion: Maverick Simon – Dayton Elementary School
Second Place: Mason Burns – Sutro Elementary School
Third Place: Brooke Padilla – Sutro Elementary School

Grade 7:
First Place: Champion: Connor Cueva – Yerington Intermediate School
Second Place: Tracie Smith – Silverland Middle School
Third Place: Jacob Kleine – Smith Valley Middle School

Grade 8:
First Place: Champion: Haley Chittenden – Yerington Intermediate School
Second Place: Loring Hutchinson – Silverland Middle School
Third Place: Peyton Panuska – Silverland Middle School

LCSD had the chance to sit down with each of the first place winners. Connor Kachelmayer, 5th grade student at Yerington Intermediate School, told us that his first experience in a competitive spelling bee was a nerve-wracking at first but once he got in the swing of things he felt relaxed. The only word that had him worried was the championship word, the word that when spelled right ends the bee a declares a winner. Despite the initial nerves, Kachelmayer did not miss a single word. Apart from spelling like a champ, Kachelmayer enjoys video games and finds school enjoyable.

Maverick Simon, 6th grade student at Dayton Elementary School, brought home the only first place from the LCSD spelling bee that didn’t go to a Yerington student. He said his final competitor in the bee and himself went back and forth for what felt like 20 minutes trying to declare a champion.

When it comes down to the final two competitors and one misses a word, the other must answer the championship word correctly otherwise the competitor who just missed a word is revived. At one point in the competition, Maverick missed his word but was revived and continued on to perfection as his competitor missed a word and he answered the championship word, “glimmer”, correctly. Way to glimmer to glory, Maverick. When Simon is not spelling, he likes to read books like Moby Dick and White Fang, ride his bike and loves to study geology.

Connor Cueva, 7th grade student at Yerington Intermediate School, along with Haley Chittenden, 8th grade student at Yerington Intermediate School, were in their first year of competing in the LCSD spelling bee, but nonetheless, both walked away with first place awards and a trip to the state spelling bee. Cueva studied the list on his own prior to the spelling bee while Chittenden attended school practices to prepare.

Cueva like to read and enjoys art when he’s not spelling and Chittenden enjoys reading, creative writing and drawing. All of the LCSD spelling bee winners are diligently reviewing and studying the Scripps National Spelling Bee word bank as they prepare for the state competition. LCSD will be cheering them on this March as they travel to Las Vegas with their families to compete for a chance at the 93rd Scripps National Spelling Bee in Fort Washington, Maryland in late May.