By Janice Kneisley

Larned Greta Bauer was both anxious and happy when in the 13th round of spelling at the recent Pawnee County Spelling Bee, she was given the word “economist” to spell.   For Bauer, an 8th grader at Pawnee Heights, had been practicing   for weeks and felt confident she could correctly spell the word. One of two final contestants in the competition, she only had to spell this last word correctly to win first place.
“I was nervous.” Bauer admitted, but with the ease of a seasoned pro, Bauer whizzed thru the nine letter word and will now represent the county at the Sunflower Spelling Bee, March 12 at Barton Community College, Great Bend. If Bauer wins that completion she will move on to state completion.
Regan Carlson, a fifth grader from Pawnee Heights finished in second place, mis-spelling the word “transitory.”
In third place was Larned Middle School, (LMS), eight grader Michael Steele who misspelled “monstrosity” in the 12th round.
In all, 24 students from LMS and Pawnee Heights took part in the spelling bee after winning individual class competitions.  Students studied words from an on-line website and a generated list according to LMS 6th grade teacher Carla Schartz, spelling bee coordinator. Schartz added the winner of the Sunflower Spelling Bee would receive a free foreign language class over the Internet.
Spelling bee contestants were: LMS: 5th grade: Chloe Hitschmann, Kennedy Ayre, Abby Kelty, and Seleena Ibarra; 6th grade: Haley Skelton, Cadin Limon, Dorothy Keenan, and Maksim Easly: 7th grade: Clare Benke-Lane, Kate Shoeder, Reed Russum, and Wyatt Davis; and 8th grade: Michael Steele, Colton Gladow, and Jeremy Bartz. Representing Pawnee Heights were: 5th grade: Regan Carlson and Riley Tillitson; 6th grade: Dalton Bright and Evan Edwards; 7th grade: Gaiden Blattner and Clayton Berni; and 8th grade Greta Bauer and Alexa Trapp.