West County takes top honors at Spelling Bee

Eighth grader Jon Hovick made history for West County Middle School on Feb. 15 when he won the top spot at the MAJHAA District Spelling Bee. This is the first time a student from West County has achieved this honor.

The event, held at North County High School, is an annual spelling contest for sixth, seventh and eighth grade students in the 11 surrounding school districts including Arcadia Valley, Bismarck, Central, Farmington, Fredericktown, Kingston, North County, Potosi, Ste. Genevieve, Valley and West County. Students first compete in classroom spelling bees and then school-level contests. The top three winners from each district then advance to the MAJHAA contest, with the final two spellers being named the 2011 winners.

This year’s host was Arcadia Valley. Principal Kent Huddleston welcomed students and their families, teachers and administrators to the event. Participating students spelled words such as quench, yearning, optimism, infinity, destination and warrior in the early rounds. Later rounds included words such as unanimous, abracadabra, grievance, enzyme, counterclockwise and monetary. The winning word for Hovick was monstrosity. Ian Jones, a Farmington Middle School student, took second place. Both students were presented with plaques. Since Hovick took first place, the traveling plaque will remain at West County until next year’s spelling bee.