Lee Pulaski, lpulaski@wolfrivermedia.com
Leader Photo by Lee Pulaski Abby Timler, a fourth-grade student at Bonduel Elementary School, spells a word during the practice round of the Bonduel School District spelling bee Wednesday as other competitors look on. Timler spelled “gaffe” and “ragout” correctly to win first place. She will compete in the regional bee Monday in Clintonville.
The 2015 Bonduel School District spelling bee will go into the record books for two reasons: having the most rounds in school history (27 ) and having the final battle come down to two sisters.
Abby Timler, a fourth-grade student at Bonduel Elementary School, won the bee Wednesday after spelling “gaffe” and “ragout” correctly. This was Abby’s first year of eligibility for the spelling bee.
Her sister, Erin Timler, a sixth-grade student at Bonduel Middle School, finished second when she misspelled “laudable.”
After the bee, Abby said she wasn’t surprised that she had to face her older sister for the bee title. Besides practicing their words at home, the Timlers practiced with other students in school programs.
“I know that she’s a really good speller,” Abby said of Erin.
With 20 participants, this year’s bee was smaller than in previous years.
The bee featured a mixture of spelling rounds and vocabulary rounds, where the spelling was given but students had to recite the correct definition from two choices given.
Most of the spellers were out by the 12th round, leaving the Timler sisters to battle it out for almost 20 minutes as the audience packed into Sousa Hall watched. The girls spelled a number of exotic words with ease, including “ipso facto” and “dinero.”
Lisa Sorlie, the district’s spelling bee coordinator, said Bonduel’s most recent bees didn’t go past 11 or 12 rounds and never went past 16 rounds. Sorlie said she wasn’t too surprised with the result.
“I had a strong inclination that (the Timler sisters) would at least be in the top three,” Sorlie said. “They’re a very talented family.”
The school district received a list of words to use to prepare students for the bee, and during the bee, Sorlie, who also served as pronouncer, gave the spellers the definition of the word and informed them if there were homonyms.
“The dictionaries have 470,000 words in them, and (spelling bee officials) release 350 of them for you to work with,” Sorlie said.
Although going up against her older sister was a challenge, Abby Timler will face an even bigger challenge when she goes to the regional spelling bee at Clintonville High School on Monday. In January, Shawano Community Middle School student Karelyn Malliet, who won the state spelling bee in 2014, was crowned as her district’s spelling champion for the fourth year in a row.
Sorlie said she plans to drill with Abby on the words she already knows and is sending a dictionary home for Abby to practice with other words.