After a three-year hiatus, because of the pandemic, Nevada County’s Spelling Tournament returned earlier this month, at the Miners Foundry Cultural Center. And because of that, tournament coordinator and retired teacher, Wendy Baker, said there were a lot of first-time fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth-graders…

click to listen to Wendy Baker

There was a fifth and sixth-grade competition, with 43 participants. 37 participated for the seventh and eighth-grade title. Baker says it started with a written portion for student teams. Then the top three from each team were part of the oral tournament. She says a study guide is provided a month ahead of time…

click to listen to Wendy Baker

In the fifth and sixth grade team competition, Grass Valley Charter School earned the first-place award. Nevada City School of the Arts won in the seventh and eighth grade competition. The first place individual champ for fifth and sixth graders was Jedi Haynes-Hauser, with Aleah Britt finishing second. For the seventh and eighth graders, Oliver Massam finished first, followed by Caleb Redmond. These four students now qualify for the state tournament on May 13th in Stockton.