Speller moves on to state level

Most people have either watched or participated in a spelling bee sometime in their lives, but only one Sanders County student made it into the statewide competition this year. Katie Porter is 13 years old and has been competing in spelling bees since she was in third grade. According to her teachers, she has been number one in her school since fourth grade. According to Shawna Olsen, Dixon School secretary and manager of the school's spelling bee, this is "something she does every year" and "these are very hard words." Olsen said that even she drew a blank on many of the words.

To make it into the 2021 Treasure State spelling bee, students needed a minimum score of 20 out of 40, and only 61 students across the state qualified. Porter, a seventh grader, not only won in her school, she also won at the county level and was able to score well enough to find herself in the state bee. According to Olsen, the county bee was done online, through the Scripps Online Testing Platform. To take it, Porter sat in Olsen's office and had words read to her through the computer speakers and typed in her answers. Participants were given 30 minutes to take the test and words had the definitions written out. Olsen said that there were anywhere from 15 to 25 words, and some of them were so hard Porter was probably guessing by the end.

Porter confirmed that she had been guessing on many of the words and could not believe she did as well as she had. "It was just fun to see if I could get that far," said Porter. "I didn't even know which ones I got right in the end." She said that there were several foreign words that gave her a lot of difficulty. When asked how she does so well, Porter said, "I write it out in my mind or trace the word out on my hand."

In the Dixon School bee, students competed in-person. Just like a traditional spelling bee, students tried to outlast their competitors. Two students from each class won to compete in the school bee. Then students were moved into the gymnasium, where they could socially distance. Dixon students competed until only one was left to move into the county-wide bee. Porter then went on to win in county for her first time, and she is excited to try her mind in the state bee.

Porter will compete in the state bee online, just as she did for the county-wide, on March 25. If she wins this bee she will progress into the National Spelling Bee, competing against students from across the country.

The county spelling bee is normally held at the Sanders County Courthouse and sponsored by The Sanders County Ledger, but was canceled due to COVID-19 precautions this year and schools were able to hold competitions individually. Only schools registered with the Scripps Online Testing Platform could participate in the county and state competitions this year, of which there were only three. These were Dixon, Hot Springs and Thompson Falls. In Hot Springs the winner of her school bee was seventh grade Naoma Knudsen. Knudsen won the county bee last year. In Thompson Falls, the winner was sixth grader Aubrey Baxter.