Top spellers

On April 6, 32 students from around Delta County came to the Delta Center to compete in the 2012 6th grade spelling bee. After more than an hour, the field had been narrowed to six, then five, four, three . . . until there were only two. The two young ladies, Sami Wollert from Delta Middle School and Elliana Kuhl from Paonia Elementary, continued to go back and forth until Wollert emerged the winner.

Pictured to the right are the six finalists, (from the left) Sami Wollert, first; Elliana Kuhl, second; Santos Chavez, third; KC Carlson, fourth; Hannah Hatheway, fifth; and McKenna Palmer, sixth. The entire group of competitors is pictured below.