Confidence, preparation key to winning at Western Navajo spelling bee

Posted by Krista Allen | Feb 19, 2015 | People |

TUBA CITY

More than 100 spelling bee contenders from across Western Navajo competed last Thursday for spots of moving on to the Navajo Nation Scripps Spelling Bee.

Kaleb Bitsui, a fourth grader at Moencopi Day School in Moenkopi, Ariz. was one of 27 contenders in the fourth grade competition on Feb. 12 during the Western Navajo Agency Regional Spelling Bee, which took at the Greyhills Academy High auditorium. Bitsui will head to the Navajo Times’ Navajo Nation Spelling Bee as the second runner-up in March. (Times photo – Krista Allen)

Only 15, however, will make it there on March 12 in Kayenta.

In recent years, Alessandro Luis Bolus, Alannah-Grace Mangubat, and Edick Nuesca have dominated this contest, snatching first place. But the contest this year didn’t see neither Mangubat nor Bolus, the then-sixth grader from Second Mesa Day School who made his way to the 2014 Scripps National Spelling Bee in Oxon Hill, Md. where he was one of 281 spellers vying for the coveted title.

Bolus failed to make the cut as one of the 46 semifinalists in the 87th annual event.

This year, the top finishers were Leah Becenti, McKennon George, Angel Labejo, Nizhoni Nassib, and Mica Song.

“It’s very good to spell,” said Edwin Tano, the Greyhills Academy High dean of students, in his address on Thursday morning in the Greyhills auditorium. “It’s necessary to spell correctly. If you can’t spell correctly, you can’t write correctly.”