Emert wins county spelling bee

Maggi Emert, a seventh-grade student at Holton Middle School, won the Jackson County Spelling Bee yesterday afternoon after correctly spelling the word “pistons.”

Emert, who the daughter of Jennifer Emert of Holton, took runner-up at last year’s county spelling bee. She said coming back and winning this year’s bee “felt good.”

She competed against 10 other spellers from Holton, Royal Valley and Jackson Heights schools (fifth through eighth grade) at the Holton Middle School cafeteria yesterday. More than 50 parents, grandparents and community members attended the bee.

After six rounds of competition, Emert was the only speller left after correctly spelling “poppet.” She said she remembered the word from last year’s bee.

Emert then had to correctly spell one more word, “pistons,” before being declared the winner. 

Levi Brucken, a fifth-grade student from Jackson Heights, took second place and Keziah Smith, a fifth-grader from Royal Valley, took third. All three students received medals.

Emert will now compete at the Sunflower State Spelling Bee set for Saturday, March 25, at Newman University in Wichita.  

Other students who competed during the county spelling included Kayden Pugh (Royal Valley seventh grade), Torsten Hustead (Jackson Heights seventh grade), Ethan Gullota (Jackson Heights eighth grade), Cameron Alley (Jackson Heights sixth grade), Karson Clarke (Holton fifth grade), Maddie Heineken (Holton eighth grade), Aiden Allen (Royal Valley sixth grade) and Kyson Leis (Royal Valley eighth grade).

Curtis Becker served as the pronouncer of the bee while Jana Werner, Keri Miller and Judy Ireland served as judges.