Spelling Bee champions

After 23 rounds of intense spelling challenges, Cadi Heaton, an eighth grade student from Carbon County, emerged as the first place winner in the 2024 SESC Regional Spelling Bee, held at Green River High School on March 11.
Second place went to Ollie Jeppesen, a fifth grade student from Blanding Elementary. Jeppesen battled Heaton for eleven rounds until misspelling the word catalyst.
Heaton’s winning word was disjunct. Third place was captured by Niomi Kelly, a seventh grade student from Grand County.
The top three fourth through eighth grade students from Carbon, Emery, Grand and San Juan school districts, plus Pinnacle Academy spellers, advanced to the Region Bee from their local school and district bees held earlier this year. The spelling was overseen by pronouncer Jessie Magleby and judges Johnna Boyack and JoLynn Torgerson.
Heaton received a trophy and an all-expense paid trip for two to the 2024 Scripps National Spelling Bee Week, along with The Samuel Louis Sugarman Award, one year of Britannica Online Premium and access to valuable online study resources.
Second and third place spellers receive a trophy, and all other participants received a plaque of recognition for making it to the regional bee. The 2024 Scripps Spelling Bee will be held in Washington D.C. in May.
San Juan District spellers were Jeraden Hurst, an eighth grade student from Albert R. Lyman Middle School, Jade Bradford, a seventh grade student from Albert R. Lyman Middle School, and Ollie Jeppesen.
The Scripps Bee is the nation’s largest and longest-running educational promotion, administered on a not-for-profit basis by The E.W. Scripps Company and 291 sponsors across the world.
The Bee’s purpose is to help students improve spelling, increase vocabularies, learn concepts, and develop correct English usage that will help them all their lives.