Mount Vernon 8th-grader wins Knox County Spelling Bee

MOUNT VERNON — Natasha Jose, an eighth-grader at Mount Vernon Middle School, won the annual Knox County Spelling Bee Thursday evening.

Audrey Carlisle, a fifth-grader at Centerburg Elementary School, was runner-up.

Nineteen students in grades five through eight participated in the bee in the Mount Vernon High School auditorium. They qualified for the county bee by winning grade-level bees at their schools in Centerburg, Fredericktown, East Knox, Danville and Mount Vernon.

Taylor Gingery, gifted and enrichment coordinator at the Knox Educational Service Center, coordinated the bee and was the pronouncer.

Natasha won by correctly spelling “panel.” That word might seem easy but Gingery said Natasha and Audrey already had spelled much harder words.

Contestants were given a list of words to study for the bee. After those words were exhausted, Gingery turned to a list that was not provided in advance.

“While ‘panel’ does not seem all that difficult, it was several words deep into the unstudied-list, words that were not provided to contestants before the competition,” Gingery said.

“Natasha and Audrey already had correctly spelled the hardest words on the studied-list, including ‘Wiesbaden,’ ‘bivouac’ and ‘justaucorps.’”

Natasha and Audrey will have the opportunity to take an online screening test to qualify as one of the top 50 spellers for the regional bee at Ohio University.

The online test will focus on both spelling and grammar.

Knox ESC sponsored the county bee with grant support from the Rotary Foundation. Rotary funds paid for trophies, certificates, participant T-shirts and refreshments.

The Knox County Commissioners served as judges.

In case you were wondering about those three particularly difficult words, here are their definitions:

Wiesbaden — One of the oldest spa towns in Europe. Its name translates to “meadow baths,” a reference to its famed hot springs.

Justaucorps – A long, knee-length coat worn by men in the latter half of the 17th century and throughout the 18th century.

Bivouac – A temporary camp without tents or cover, used especially by soldiers or mountaineers.