Local students shine at Bi-County Academic contest

Dozens of students from three local schools traveled to Wilbur on March 13 to compete in the Bi-County Academics competition this month. The students from Lind Elementary School, Ritzville Grade School and Lind-Ritzville Middle School returned home with an impressive amount of awards from placing in the academic contest.

The Bi-County Academic contest is an annual event that brings students in third through eighth grades to compete in various academic events.

Students competed in six different categories: math, spelling, geography, persuasive speech, impromptu speech and interpretive speech.

Other schools participating in the competition included Reardan, Wilbur, Liberty, Harrington, Odessa, Creston, Davenport, Lamont and Sprague-Lamont.

For each school, teachers selected students in the third through eighth grades to compete in spelling and one student in grades five through eight to compete in the math, geology and speeches categories.

In the spelling competition, Lind students Canyen Whitaker placed third in the third grade competition. In the fifth grade spelling contest, Ritzville student Drew Kelly finished second, while Korinna Curtis from Lind earned a fourth place finish.

Sixth grade student Spencer Gering earned fifth place in his class for spelling, while seventh grade students took the top two spots.

Bryce Hansen finished in first, while classmate Caden Liberty secured the second place spot. In eighth grade, Alarah Pierce-Pulliam received second place in spelling.

Students participating in the math contest also found success with three students placing in the top six from the Bi-County. Linnea Schafer of Ritzville finished in sixth in the fifth grade competition.

In the sixth grade, Tamara Wolf secured a fourth place finish, while eighth grade student Peyton Curtis took home third place in the math contest.

The students also competed in geography and Ritzville fifth grade student Noah Weiszbrod received sixth place. Katheran Gingrich took the top spot in the sixth grade geography contest, and Eric Hayes finished in second in the seventh grade competition. Emma Aldrich earned first place in the eighth grade geography contest.

In the fifth grade persuasive speaking competition, Ritzville student Julia Klein claimed first and Lind student Andrea Novoa-Guizar finished in third. For the sixth grade persuasive speaking contest, Ellie Gering took the top place.

The success in persuasive speaking continued when seventh grade student Brooke Koch finished in second, and Sierra Kiel earned first place in the eighth grade competition.

In interpretive speaking, fourth grade student from Ritzville Jay Harder earned fourth place. Cailey Vallone-Boettcher finished in first in the sixth grade interpretive speaking contest. Sharon Anderson claimed a second place spot in the seventh grade interpretive speaking contest, and Megan Buriak took first place in the eighth grade portion of the contest.

In impromptu speaking, fifth grade Ritzville student Gus Tracy received first place and Lind student Douglas Morris finished in third for the fifth grade contest. Seventh grade student Matthew Pence finished in third place, while Claire Roettger earned second place in the eighth grade impromptu speaking contest.

A large group of students competed in the competition and include: Eliza Galbreath, Ellie Gering, Tucker Guilles, Ashlynn Norton, Haley Kulm, Thane Akins, Wyatt Kulm, Amy Anderson, Paulina Calderon, Ava Akins, Nyleana Bailey, Taylor Galbreath, Sydney Kinch, Lauren Miller and Trever Bailey. Alternates were Rachel Shell, Brinley Moore, Cinthia Guizar, Ashlynn Norton, Cole Cameron, Kiersten Witt, Laurel Hayes, Aimee Laufer, Lacey Miller and Thomas Rose.