Charlo student masters “futility” to win county bee

“Ferret” and “futility” won Nathan Alder first place in last Friday’s Lake County Spelling Bee, held at the high school gym in St. Ignatius.

For the Charlo seventh grader, “futility” was the trickiest.

“Botany” threw Kylie Cox, a Charlo sixth grader who came in a close second. However, she was especially pleased with herself for spelling “miraculous” in an earlier round.

“That was a miracle,” she said.

Johanna Robine, a St. Ignatius sixth grader, took third place.

Kylie said she went into the county bee with low expectations: “I thought if I get past the first round, I’ll be fine.”

Nathan also didn’t anticipate a win. “I couldn’t believe I’d go this far.”

He said his stress began to build when the 20 participants were winnowed to four. “That’s when it got kind of scary.”

Among the words that flummoxed contestants were scruple, moxie, gargantuan, bedlam and phonics.

According to master of ceremonies and Lake County Superintendent of Schools Carolyn Hall, this event marks the first in-person bee since 2020, when COVID forced the event to an “unsatisfactory” online format.

Students from Arlee, St. Ignatius and Charlo participated, along with a lone student from Valley View. According to Hall, the county’s two largest school districts – Polson and Ronan – elected not to send students this year.

“The big schools felt like they couldn’t do it justice because they have so many things going on,” she said.

An additional disincentive is the fee of $175 charged by the spelling bee sponsor, Scripps – a giant media company that focuses on broadcast news and entertainment.

“That’s why some of our home-schoolers no longer participate,” said Hall. If schools or home-school students don’t pay the fee, due in January, they can still participate in the county bee but can’t go on to the state or national contests.

“Scripps has always kind of held them hostage with that,” she said – a fact that causes consternation among her peers.

“As a state we’ve discussed just doing our own and not burdening our schools with an extra fee,” said Hall. “We’re all good with that, but then the winners could not do the national.”

Charlo teacher Mindy Cox (Kylie’s mom) noted that the top three finishers at Friday's bee also compete in Academic Bowl, and suspects that contributed to their success.

The top speller received $100 to help him travel to the Montana Treasure State Spelling Bee in Bozeman where he’ll compete against the 70 top spellers from public and private schools across the state. Kylie, as alternate, received $50.

Nathan, who said he didn’t prepare much before Friday’s bee, expects to work harder this time around by looking up the official word list and practicing. “My parents will quiz me all the time,” he added.

Hall, who has overseen eight spelling bees during her tenure as county superintendent, admires students’ “gumption.”

“I just celebrate kids and their willingness to take risks and do extra,” she said. “And our teachers and our schools too.”

John Lyons of Rollins pronounced the words and provided definitions and context. Judges were Paula Holle from Bigfork, Brycen Ek of Kalispell and Leigh Johnson of Polson.

The state spelling bee is March 11 at Montana State University in Bozeman. The winner heads to the national bee in National Harbor, Md., May 28-June 3.