Herington Middle School eighth grader Josh
Brunner smiled slightly and then exhibited poise and confidence as
he correctly spelled “aplomb” to give him the opportunity to
capture the Dickinson County Spelling Bee title for the second
straight year.
Somewhat ironically, the definition for
“aplomb” is “confidence, skill and poise, especially in difficulty
or challenging situations.”
Brunner certainly exhibited aplomb when he
then correctly spelled “dechlorinate” to win the county-wide
spelling bee, which was hosted at the Herington Middle School.
The site is annually determined by the school
at which the winner from the previous year is enrolled.
This means HMS will be the site for the 2009
Dickinson County Spelling Bee.
As the winner of this year’s county-wide
event, Brunner qualified to compete in a regional spelling bee
scheduled March 15 at Washburn Rural High School, which is located
near Topeka.
Placing second in the county spelling bee was
Jeremy Nunweiler, an Abilene Middle School eighth grader. He
incorrectly spelled “aplomb”
Both Brunner and Nunweiler misspelled “acumen”
in the next to last round.
Finishing third was Caitlin Rose, a Chapman
Middle School seventh grader.
Brunner, a son of Jay and Laurie Brunner, is
hopeful he will be able to advance past the first round of the
regional event.
“I may miss early like I did last year or I
might go deep,” he said. “Sometimes it’s a matter of how the words
line up.”
Forty-eight students from six schools in the
county competed Feb. 13 at HMS.
The represented attendance centers at Abilene,
Blue /Ridge, Chapman, Herington, Hope and Solomon.
A practice round allowed participants to spell
words without being eliminated for incorrectly spelling words.
This was followed by 102 words being
pronounced during eight regular rounds.
Six words were pronounced during the
championship round as Brunner and Nunweiler battled back and forth
for the county title.
The Abilene Reflector-Chronicle, a
newspaper in Abilene, sponsored the county-wide event.
Publisher Dave Bergmeier presented plaques to
Brunner, Nunweiler and Rose.
