Pinon Hills students take district spelling bee

Pinon Hills Elementary sixth-grade teacher Jason Carter said his school has never had a district-wide spelling bee winner.

Imagine his delight when two of his students clinched the top two spots in the district spelling bee at Jacks Valley Elementary School on Feb. 1.

"They're very hardworking students who study hard in all their classes, not just spelling," Carter said on Friday. "I can't think of two nicer kids to have this happen to."

Classmates Maddy Weiss, 11, and Kiersten Boyd, 12, went head-to-head in more than five rounds during the final competition, which had more than 20 contestants.

"I didn't expect it," said Maddy.

"We just went back and forth and kept getting words and kept missing them," said Kiersten.

When Kiersten missed two letters in the word "pollutant," Maddy was able to spell it right and then spell correctly the next word, "decongestant." She emerged as the first-place winner.

"I thought it was cool," Maddy said. "I wasn't very nervous. I didn't care if I won at all."

The friends also competed against each other in Pinon Hills' initial spelling bee. They said they'd received "big packets of words" in class to study for the event.

"We talked about different things," Carter said, "how they could extend their spelling time by asking for a definition, or asking the judges to use the word in a sentence - things to help them slow down and relax."

"I only studied once," Kiersten admitted.

"I studied for the school bee, but not at all for the district bee," Maddy said.

Evidently, the girls had other ways of learning words.

"I like vocabulary, and after I learn a new word, I know how to spell it," Kiersten said.

"I read a lot of books," Maddy explained. "I finished the first 'Harry Potter' book in a day. That's how I know big words."

According to Carter, the girls are not just brilliant. He said they're honest, too.

Kiersten recalled that the microphone system at Jacks Valley wasn't working very well. When the judges moved on after her spelling of the word "reconcilable," Kiersten and her parents informed the judges that she'd used an "e" instead of an "a" in "able."

"It was awesome. It made me more proud of them," said Carter.

Maddy said she'll be traveling to the state spelling bee in Las Vegas on March 20.

"I've never been to Las Vegas, so I am just excited to go there," she said. "I've been to North Carolina, but not Vegas."

Maddy also said that this time, she's going to study for the competition.