Waterloo 7th grader headed to Washington, D.C. after regional spelling bee win

Students compete at Waterloo region spelling bee Top spellers faced off at the region’s inaugural Scripps Spelling Bee Saturday.

Thirteen local middle schoolers created some buzz Saturday when they competed in Waterloo region’s inaugural Scripps Spelling Bee at Bingemans.

Eleanor Jeavons, a Grade 7 student at MacGregor Senior Public School in Waterloo, spelled ‘innovator’ correctly to win the first place trophy.

She also won a six-night, all-expenses-paid trip to Washington, D.C., where she will compete against hundreds of other students from around the world at the Scripps National Spelling Bee.

“I think you have to read a lot because you learn the words through reading,” said Jeavons, when asked how to become a good speller. “Learn the rules of English and take your time with spelling things.”

The event was hosted in partnership with ECU Credit Union and the goal was to promote literacy and language arts in a fun and engaging way.

“The spelling bee allows, not only for the students to really study and learn the words, it also gives them self-confidence and it gives them experience in public speaking,” said Beth Ann Prince, manager of community investment with WFCU and ECU Credit Unions.

She added that they hope more schools will host their own spelling bees in the future, qualifying the winner to compete next year’s regional bee.