District spelling bee winner and alternates pose for a photo with LPS Board of Education Vice President Angela Christensen, who served as the spelling bee pronouncer. 

Forty-eight students participated in the district spelling bee on Wednesday, February 9 at Newton Middle School. Spellers invited to participate were either the spelling bee winner at their school, the written spelling bee winner from their school, or one of the top 40 spellers on the districtwide written spelling test.

There were six rounds needed to determine a winner and alternates, and students had to spell words like toddler, affectionately, victimology, FLOTUS, and millennial. The final round had four students, and Euclid sixth grader Merjen Melyayev won by successfully spelling “churn” and “saddlery.” Merjen will represent LPS at the state spelling bee along with the other three students from the final round: Maddie Leuenberger, a fourth grader at Sandburg; Delaney Ahl-Hinson, a fifth grader at Sandburg; and Kaveri Nagpal, a sixth grader at Powell. These students will attend the state bee as alternates. 

Congratulations to all the participants (listed below), and good luck at the state bee to Merjen and the alternates!

Participants
Delaney Ahl-Hinson, Sandburg Elementary School
Nora Arcand, Euclid Middle School
Jacob Baron, Twain Elementary School
Robbie Berg, Runyon Elementary School
Nate Booker, Euclid Middle School
Grant Brandberg, Powell Middle School
Addie Brown, Littleton Academy
Owen Caldwell, Goddard Middle School
Cameron Carnes, Powell Middle School
Ella Chase, Euclid Middle School
Everley Cole, Littleton Academy
Owen Cozort, Littleton Academy
Truitt Eisenbrandt, Littleton Academy
Cate Ferguson, Euclid Middle School
Eleanor Fisher, Littleton Academy
Aedan Grohe, Euclid Middle School
Matt Grover, Littleton Academy
Brenna Gunshore, Littleton Academy
Gabriella Hammond, Euclid Middle School
Grayson Hoffman, Wilder Elementary School
Lochlan “Loch” Houseal, Littleton Academy
Michelle Jacobo Ramirez, Goddard Middle School
Ashton Jonnard, Littleton Academy
Haris Jordan, Littleton Academy
Logan Key, Runyon Elementary School
Oliver Kubicki, Euclid Middle School
Aiden Labo, Euclid Middle School
Diego Lara, Euclid Middle School
Lorena Lara, Highland Elementary School
Maddie Leuenberger, Sandburg Elementary School
Merjen Melyayev, Euclid Middle School
Kate Miller, Littleton Academy
Rem Morris, Highland Elementary School
Kaveri Nagpal, Powell Middle School
Pranav Narayanan, Littleton Academy
Julia Nayak, Lenski Elementary School
Tucker Nichols, Twain Elementary School
Maddie Payne, Littleton Academy
Sestro Pettit, Euclid Middle School
Paige Pitts, Wilder Elementary School
Angelica Robey, Centennial Academy
Stella Ross, Littleton Academy
Ash Rupel, Ralph Moody Elementary School
Abigail Tedjokusumo, Newton Middle School
Adam Thurmond, Powell Middle School
Townes Treanor, Euclid Middle School
Alison Turner, Lenski Elementary School
Coleman Weaver, Littleton Academy