Madison County Spelling Bee

The Madison County Spelling Bee was held in the afternoon on Monday, February 23, at the County Administration Building Community Room in Virginia City. The Bee brought together 20 spellers from Ennis, Sheridan and Twin Bridges ranging from fourth grade to eighth grade. After four rounds, Max Hale, eighth grader from Ennis won the county bee for the third time in a row. Max’s championship winning word was “acoustic”. By winning the County Bee, Max earned the privilege of representing Madison County in the Treasure State Spelling Bee sponsored by Scripps News on March 21 at the Strand Union Building on the Montana State University Campus. Morgan Haas, Ennis fourth grader, was crowned Runner-Up after he correctly spelled his last word in a spell-off against Sheridan fifth grader, Grant Shigaki. Twin Bridges fifth grader, Klayton Osentowski, won the drawing for any participant who did not win first or second in the Bee. The prize was $25.00 cash donated by Pam Birkeland. 

A big thank you shout out goes to Marilyn Jenkins, Ennis, pronouncer; and judges—Emilie Sayler, Sheridan; Nikki Picken, Sheridan; and Jody Sprout, Ennis. Also, the Madison County Superintendent of Schools would like to thank Madison Valley Bank, 1st Interstate Bank, both in Ennis, and Opportunity Bank of Montana in Twin Bridges for donating $50.00 each to provide the winner with a $100 cash prize and the runner up with a $50.00 cash prize.