Elizabeth Nisly will represent Bluffton Middle School in the Allen County spelling bee for the second year in a row. The eighth grader won her second Bluffton Middle School spelling bee on Nov. 15.
The win advances her to the county spelling bee, which she won last year. Nisly had lots of competition this year as it took 108 words, 45 minutes and 15 rounds before her lone standing challenger, Douglas Nester, eventually misspelled "immaculate."
Nisly needed to correctly spell the next word given her, which she did. That word, "polyglot," she spelled correctly to win her repeat title. (A polyglot is someone who uses many languages, or a language that is a combination of many languages.)
Nester, a seventh grader, is Bluffton's alternate to the county bee, which will be held this winter.
The accompanying video shows the practice round. Don't be fooled by the easy words in the round. It was simply a warm up for contestants to become more comfortable in the competition.
Ruth Naylor served as pronouncer. Judges were Nancy Armour and Susie Gratz. Natalie Armstrong is the sixth and seventh grade language arts teacher in charge of the spelling bee.
This year's Bluffton spelling bee constants were:
Sixth grade contestants
Isabel Maselli
Braden Conrad
Laura Strahan
Conor Greer
Ian Stuard
7th grade contestants
Jason Bracy
Douglas Nester
Trevor Bunch
Connor Dawson
Megan Sycks
8th grade contestants
Elizabeth Nisly
Lauren Bish
Cassidy Bush
Amy Warren
Noah Scoles
