The Crookston Public Schools held their annual Crookston District Spelling Bee on Tuesday afternoon at Highland Elementary School. Fifth-grader Melody Ortiz won the bee and will now advance to the Regional Spelling Bee at the Northland Community & Technical College in Thief River Falls on Wednesday, February 8. “It felt really shocking,” said Ortiz. “I didn’t think that out of all of the grades that I would win.” Oritz won the spelling bee spelling the word ‘acrid,’ which she says she almost chose the wrong of two spellings for it. “My last word was acrid, and it meant like a pain, and I knew I had two choices to choose from, either “a, c, r, e, d, or a, c, r, i, d.”
Being the best speller in the School District, Melody has now advanced to the Regional Spelling Bee in Thief River Falls for a chance to compete in the Multi-Regional Spelling Bee at Lakes Country Service Cooperative in Fergus Falls. “I don’t think I’ll go all the way to the end, but I think I’ll still do pretty well,” said Oritz.”
