Laconia Honor Society team takes Spelling Bee title with 'pharmaceutical'

LACONIA — The Lakes Region Scholarship Foundation held its 17th Annual Community Spelling Bee at Laconia High School Thursday night. Following a rigorous competition, which lasted seven rounds, the Laconia High School National Honor Society team, “We Put a Spell On You,” sponsored by the Dana S. Beane Company, composed of Amber Patten, Isabella Lovering and Dakota Cross, took the title, spelling the word “pharmaceutical.” The Laconia High School team is only the second student team in the 17-year history of the Bee to win the title, the other team being the Gilford High School team the “Ugly Sweater,” who won in 2012.

The last round of the competition was down to three teams: The LHS winners; a team from the Laconia SAU office, “Highway to Spell” composed of Dr. Brendan Minnihan (the Superintendent of Schools, who sponsored the team), Regina Theberge and Beth Vachon; and the team from Stand Up Laconia which included Judi Lundh, Mike Soucy and Sarah Jenna.

The Lakes Region Scholarship Foundation president, Michael Nolan, opened the evening greeting all in attendance and giving a little background about the Foundation. He then turned the festivities over to the emcee/host of the night, Pat Kelly from local radio station WEMJ. Pat went through the preliminaries for the night and then the pronouncers Rick Crockford and Rhetta Colon started the first round with the contestants. Each of the teams were invited to the stage individually the first round so that they could pose for the costume contest. There was quite a variety of costumes from lions to moose to angels and tough bikers (from the highway to spell.) The winners of the costume contests for the young people were: first place, the Holy Trinity School Ninja Turtles (Rafael Vazquez, Kathryn Merola, Ashley Dumont and Adreana Campo; second place, the Bee winners the LHS “We Put a Spell on You” team; and in third place the Huot Center team “Tomorrow’s Terrific Teachers including Lexys Bladeciki, Solary Chhun and Riley Grant. For the adults the winners included: first place, the Congregational Church team “The Spirit Spellers” composed of Martha Clement, Lorienne Valovanie and Ruth Gill; second place the SAU office “Highway to Spell” team; and the third place team Stand Up Laconia.

In addition to the spelling competition, there were door prizes drawn each round with prizes for audience members and competitors alike, a spelling drawing of a gift card to be used for tuition or fees to the Lakes Region Community College as well as a special puzzle drawing open to all. Prizes for the evening, donated by local businesses and restaurants totaled in value over $1,500. There was also a 50/50 drawing held toward the end of the night with a prize to the winner, Michael Soucy (owner of the Soda Shoppe in downtown Laconia). Mike donated his prize money of over $100 back to the Foundation. The evening closed with the awarding of the trophy, ribbons and the team prize.