Blue Earth Area sixth grader Gabe Petersen participated in the South Central Service Cooperative Regional Spelling Bee held in Mankato on Feb. 20. Above, he spells a word while 21 other competitors from the south central Minnesota area look on. Petersen qualified for the spelling bee after winning a bee held at BEA Elementary School on Jan. 19.

D-E-L-E-G-A-T-I-O-N.

These were the 10 letters that secured Blue Earth Area sixth grader Gabe Petersen’s slot in the South Central Service Cooperative Regional Spelling Bee, a qualifier for the Scripps National Spelling Bee.

Petersen, along with 21 other fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth grade spellers from the south central Minnesota area, traveled to Mankato’s South Central Community College on Feb. 20 to compete for a spot in the famous Washington, D.C. bee.

“I was pretty nervous the entire time,” Petersen admits.

After eight rounds of spelling, sixth grader Elijah Elledge, a student at Immanuel Lutheran School in Mankato, emerged as the victor when he correctly spelled the championship word, ‘vanquish.’

This will be Elledge’s second trip to the Scripps National Spelling Bee. He also qualified for the bee as a fifth grader, and he was eliminated in the first round when asked to spell the word ‘potaufeu.’

Along with an all-expenses-paid trip to the national bee in Washington, Elledge was also awarded a medal and a trophy. Additionally, he was offered subscriptions to Encyclopedia Britannica Online, Merriam-Webster Unabridged Online and Epic Family and Tynker coding classes, as well as a mint-proof set and a prize pack from the Minnesota Service Cooperatives.

The South Central Service Cooperative Regional Spelling Bee’s silver medal went to sixth grader Hudson Clayton, a student at St. John Vianney School in Fairmont, after he won a two-round spell-off with Bailey O’Brian from Loyola Catholic School in Mankato.

Petersen, meanwhile, tied for eighth place with Vannah Madsen, of Granada-Huntley-East Chain.

The word that stumped him was ‘compelling.’

“I thought it had one L,” Petersen explains.

Twenty-two area students, including Petersen, were able to participate in the bee in part due to generous sponsorships by South Central Service Cooperative, the Minnesota Service Cooperatives, Lathrop GPM, Medica, WEX, South Central College, the Mankato Kiwanis Club, Merriam-Webster, Encyclopedia Britannica, Samuel Louis Sugarman, epic! and Tynker.

The route which led Petersen to the bee began in his English classroom at Blue Earth Area Middle School.

BEA held its qualifying bee for the SCSC bee on Jan. 19, in the Pemberton Gymnasium. Although the bee was open to fifth, sixth and seventh grade students, just a small selection of students from each grade actually participated in the bee.

Petersen explains students in his English class were selected to participate through a series of spelling challenges in the weeks preceding the bee. Students earned points for each challenge, and those with the most points progressed to the official spelling bee on Jan. 19.

Petersen was crowned champion of the BEA spelling bee after spelling the word ‘delegation’ correctly.

The first and second runners-up were Madelyn Humburg and Dayle Goerndt, both sixth graders.

After he was declared the winner of BEA’s spelling bee, Brenda Millmann, the district’s community engagement coordinator, gave Petersen a large packet of practice words for the SCSC bee. Petersen says he worked his way through the packet in the month prior to the spelling bee.

SCSC bee officials suggest that studying spelling words has several benefits for students like Petersen.

“In addition to improving students’ spelling skills and increasing their vocabularies, spelling bee participation provides valuable experience in developing poise – a necessary skill for success in public speaking, performing arts and athletics,” spelling bee officials suggested in a press release.

Petersen, meanwhile, says he enjoys spelling for a simple reason: he feels it comes easily to him.

He attributes his ability not to a good memory or to strong study skills, but to his hometown of Delavan.

“My mom always says people from Delavan are always good spellers,” he concludes, with conviction.