Granton School District's 5th Grade Spelling Bee Champion

Monday, February 8th, 2021 -- 12:00 PM

-The Granton School District recently held their School Wide Spelling Bee.

I spoke with Granton’s Interim Administrator James Kuchta and 5th grade Spelling Bee Champion Pierce Nickel and they discussed the Spelling Bee.

Mr. Kuchta:  “I have a special guest today.  We have a student with us.  This is Pierce Nickel who is the Granton Area School District Spelling Bee Champion.  Pierce can you tell us about yourself?

Pierce:  “My name is Pierce Nickel and I’m in 5th grade and my teacher is Mr. Radloff”

Mr. Kuchta:  “And last week was the Spelling Bee, correct?”

Pierce:  “Yeah, last Thursday.”

Mr. Kuchta:  “So, the final round, the championship round of the Spelling Bee was last Thursday.  And congratulations on being Spelling Bee Champion.  The last student was in what grade?”

Pierce:  “7th grade.”

Mr. Kuchta:  “So, in the championship round, you, as a 5th grader, competed against a 7th grader and won the Spelling Bee?”

Pierce:  “Yeah.”

Mr. Kuchta:  “What grades are in the Spelling Bee again?”

Pierce:  “I think it’s 1st-8th.”

Mr. Kuchta:  “You competed against 8th grade, 7th grade, 6th grade and all the other 5th graders, as well as lower grades, and you were the champion right?”

Pierce:  “Yeah.”

Mr. Kuchta:  “Do you remember some of the words that were in the final round?  You mentioned earlier one particular word that the other student missed.”

Pierce:  “Yeah, that was eddy.”

Mr. Kuchta:  “So, eddy, as in a water eddy.  Can you spell that for us?”

Pierce:  “E-d-d-y.”

Question:  “Are you just good at spelling or did you study for the Spelling Bee at all?”

Pierce:  “Well, I’m really good at reading.  In Kindergarten I was a level J, so I’m pretty good at reading too.”

Mr. Kuchta:  “I know the final word was the final word, the winning word was porcupine.  Can you spell that for us?”

Pierce:  “P-o-r-c-u-p-i-n-e.”

Mr. Kuchta:  “Very good!”

Question:  “You said you like to read.  Do you have a favorite type of book?”

Pierce:  “I like reading scary books sometimes and I like to read the ‘Magic Treehouse.’

Question:  “Are you going to be moving on and doing a Spelling Bee on the Regional or State level?”

Pierce:  “Yeah, I’m going to do the Regional, but I don’t know when it is yet though.”

Mr. Kuchta:  “I believe Granton competes in the CESA wide, which would be 40 some school districts, Spelling Bee contest.”

Question:  “Anything else?”

Mr. Kuchta:  “I just wanted to share with you that Pierce is an excellent student and has done a great job here at Granton.  And having the opportunity to represent the Granton School District is a great thing.  I know you have siblings, Pierce.  Can you tell us about them?”

Pierce:  “Yeah, I have 4 siblings.  Skylar, Brady, Sophia and Dane.  Sophia is in 3rd grade and Dane is in 4K.  I don’t know what grades Skylar and Brady are in because they’re older.”

Mr. Kuchta:  “That’s great.  It’s great for you to tell us about the Spelling Bee and the great things happening at the Granton School.”

Feel free to contact us with questions and/or comments.