Felicitations are in order for several elementary-aged students who gave it their all during last week’s spelling bees.

Various fourth, fifth and sixth-graders at both Pinehurst and Silver Hills Elementary schools participated in their own respective spelling competitions. The winners of these respective local spelling bees have earned a spot at the 17th annual North Idaho Regional Spelling Bee in Coeur d’Alene.

At PES, the event is sponsored by the Kellogg Rotary Club and is organized by school secretary Sarah Mason, who has run the event there for some time.

“I worked really hard this year to encourage the kids to find importance in spelling,” Mason said. “I made up ‘Top Bee’ certificates for each kid who received a 100 on their spelling test and I purchased bags of the mini candy bars from Costco to go with their certificate. I was very encouraged by the number of kids that had 100’s compared to what the teachers told me to expect. In the past, we have struggled to get all of the participants to show up on the night of the spelling bee. This year, every single participant showed up.”

And boy did they show up.

According to Mason, the competition was fierce, but in the end it was Diann Ballance who took the top spot for the fifth grade (Gage Desmarias runner-up alternate), and Atinka Thomas for the fourth grade (Joshua Dituri runner-up alternate). PES does not have a sixth grade winner, as those students are housed at Kellogg Middle School.

PES Principal Mike Groves was pleased with the high level of competition and is confident that the school’s representation will be top notch, no matter who makes it to the regional bee in Coeur d’Alene.

“It was competitive, especially when we got down to the last two contestants at each grade level,” Groves said. “This is a good thing as the alternate automatically goes if the grade level champion can’t. I’m confident that either alternate could go represent us well if need be. We were proud of the kids who participated. It takes a lot of guts to compete in front of an audience like that.”

At Silver Hills, everything starts with classroom competitions across the participating grade levels. Four students from each grade level then move on to a final round where they compete against each other.

“We up the ante a little bit,” said Silver Hills Principal Todd Howard. “We invite all the teachers to come to the gym and we do an assembly/classic-style spelling bee.”

Howard and the other bee judges held their students to the high standards that the spellers would have to abide by at the regional competition. Among the strict regulations, students are not allowed to restart if they catch themselves or realize they made a mistake while spelling.

When all was spelled and done, Cooper Miller (fourth grade), Jackson Wuolle (fifth grade) and Aubrey Birdsell (sixth grade) were the Silver Hills champions.

Howard and the rest of the school wish their young spellers the best of luck in the upcoming competition.

“From my standpoint, standing up there by themselves, it’s something I would have never been comfortable doing,” Howard said. “Be willing to sit up there in front of their peers and go through a very specific step-by-step process. All of them are showing a lot of courage and that continues when they go over to Coeur d’Alene.”

The North Idaho Regional Spelling Bee will be held at North Idaho College in February. Last year, the winner of the regional bee traveled to Washington, D.C., in May to represent North Idaho in the Scripps National Spelling Bee.