GMS earns berth in finals of Indiana Academic Spell Bowl

After scoring in the top 10 percent of its enrollment class statewide, the Greencastle Middle School Spell Bowl team will compete in the Nov. 10 state competition at Purdue University. Members of the team coached by Suzanne Funk (left) include (from left) Haylee Parrish, Chloe Bodnarick, Destiny Stouder, Jordan O'Neal, Kelly Hansen, Susanna Howard, Megan Matthews, Amy Gong and Addison Hughes.

The Greencastle Middle School Spell Bowl team captured first place in area regional competition on Tuesday, Oct. 23 at Woodrow Wilson Middle School in Terre Haute.

Scoring 47 points, GMS took first place in its enrollment class, and emerged second overall out of the 16 teams in competition at the site.

After scoring in the top 10 percent of all schools statewide in its enrollment class, GMS will compete at the state competition on Nov. 10, alongside Greencastle High School, which recently took second at its regional.

The GMS Spell Bowl team consists of Kelly Hansen, Chloe Bodnarick, Megan Matthews, Haylee Parrish, Amy Gong, Destiny Stouder, Susanna Howard, Jordan O'Neal and Addison Hughes. The team is coached by Suzanne Funk.

Hansen earned a near-perfect round in the regional, only missing one word.

The Indiana Academic Spell Bowl is a team event with no individual winners. Each round consists of one team member writing the correct spelling of nine words while competing against one team member from each other school. Each word is graded immediately and an individual scoring chart maintains a running team score.

The competition is administered by the Indiana Association of School Principals, Department of Student Programs and sponsored by Purdue University.

The top teams with the highest scores in each of the four enrollment classifications will converge on the Purdue University campus (both Senior and Junior divisions) Nov. 10 for the Indiana Academic Spell Bowl State Finals competition.