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GC eighth-grader<br>wins spelling bee

GC VILLAGE — Grand Canyon Middle School student Eddie Tobin correctly spelled "troublemaker" to take first place in last week's spelling bee.

Eighth-grader Eddie Tobin spells the winning word Thursday during the spelling bee while Cody Howard, center, and Craig Bowman look on.

The eighth-grader won the event in only four rounds and for his victory will represent Grand Canyon School in the Coconino County Spelling Bee on Feb. 23 in Flagstaff.

One of the big surprises at the bee was the performance of second-grader Craig Bowman, who ended up taking second place.

The bee began with seven students — Craig Bowman, Teresa Heck, Carlos Savadra, Luke Bowman, Maria Garcia, Cody Howard and Tobin.

Two students were eliminated in the first round and two more exited in the second round. That left Tobin, Howard and Craig Bowman.

In round three, Tobin spelled meditate to advance, but Howard and Bowman each missed their words. Tobin then spelled troublemaker to win, but the bee was not over.

An alternate was needed for the county spelling bee, so Howard and Bowman squared off. After Howard missed on vandalism, Bowman spelled arson to take second place.

The top five students received ribbons. Behind Tobin, Craig Bowman and Howard, were Luke Bowman, who took fourth, and Heck, who finished fifth.

In all, Tobin only had to spell four words for the victory — waterspout, wasteful, meditate and troublemaker.

Craig Bowman spelled blustery, grumbling and arson correctly, with the miss on goddess.

The spelling bee included fewer finalists this year. Last year, 14 students competed with two representatives from each class in grades 2-8.

This year, only the seven classroom champions advanced to the bee, although the fourth-grade champion was absent, so an alternate competed.

The Grand Canyon Parent-Teacher Association awarded Tobin $25 for first place. Craig Bowman took home $15 for second and Howard won $10 for third.

National Park Service officer Ronnie Gibson, Grand Canyon School Board member Bess Foster and Grand Canyon School principal Richard Dodson served as judges. Librarian Nancy Green was the emcee and the PTA’s Judi Beckerleg was on hand to provide word definitions.


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