Five Edina Students Earn Trip to Metro Area Spelling Bee

Five Edina Public Schools students will proudly be representing their community this Saturday, Mar. 2, at the 2013 Minnesota Seven County Metro Area Regional Spelling Bee.

The students comprise approximately 10 percent of the qualifiers for this weekend's regional competition at Augsburg College. The winner of the Regional Spelling Bee will advance to Washington, D.C. to take part in the Scripps National Spelling Bee on May 28-30.

The qualifying students are:

• Bella Boeckenstedt, a 5th grader at Concord Elementary School
• Henry Mans, a 6th grader at South View Middle School
• Shrey Ramesh, a 5th grader at Countryside Elementary School
• Lucy Yang, a 5th grader at Cornelia Elementary School

“I am so proud of all our school spelling bee participants. It is such a great accomplishment to not only be the school champion, but to also qualify for the Minnesota Seven County Metro Area Regional Spelling Bee,” District Spelling Bee Coordinator Jessica Lynch said in a release. “I am looking forward to seeing Edina’s top spellers in action for the big event!”

In Edina, the district-wide spelling bee kicks off with all 5th-8th graders taking a paper and pencil spelling test, with classroom winners advancing to each school's respective spelling bee. One winner from each school is named from that pool, with the winners then taking a qualifying test online. The students who posted a score of at least 43 out of 50 possible points on that online semifinal then advance to the regional competition.

Two years ago, Valley View Middle Schooler Anja Beth Swoap made it all the way to the sixth round of the National Spelling Bee. She was ultimately eliminated on the word "weltschmerz."

Like Edina Patch on Facebook | Follow us on Twitter | Sign up for our daily newsletter