South Elementary team wins Spelling Bee

The Daingerfield-Lone Star Educational Foundation hosted their annual fundraiser on Jan. 29. The 2016 Champion Spelling Bee was hosted at the Daingerfield High School to raise funds that allow the Educational Foundation to finance teacher grants each year. The evening started with a bar-b-que brisket dinner that included cole slaw, potato beans, potato salad, and a roll, with peach cobbler for dessert. The Spelling Bee then got underway, with Heather Sanders reprising her role from previous years as caller. There were nine teams participating in this year’s Bee, and they included a team from each school, as well as several from the community. There were the Alhp-Bee-Tigers from Texas Heritage National Bank, the West Word Girders, The Ganadores from Daingerfield High School, South Elementary’s PunKtuators, and the Daingerfield’s BP & W’s Team Jo. They joined a team from P.E.O., the Letter Lovers from North East Texas Credit Union, The Bee-Dazzlers of DJH, and the THNBee’s to provide an entertaining event for those in attendance. The final two teams came down to the Daingerfield High School Ganadores and the PunKtuators from South Elementary. In the final round, if a word was missed, it was sent to the opposing team. If that team spelled the word correctly, then they had to comntinue and spell one more word correctly for the win.The South elementary team misspelled their first word in the final round, opening the door for the High School team to take the lead. After correctly spelling the missed word, missed their championship word of malicious by one letter. That word then passed back to South Elementary team, who correctly spelled that word, putting the crowd on the edge of their seats as they awaited what ended up being the championship word, which was spelled correctly by the PunKtuators. The South Elementary Team of Kelly Pollan, Diane Brantley, and Debbie Reyna correctly spelled ominous to win the 2016 championship, which included bragging rights for the coming year. Including the tickets to the event, the Educational Foundation also sold raffle tickets for a $1,500 package, a 48 inch RCA television, and a Kindle Fire, and also held a silent auction for a variety of items from area merchants. The Educational Foundation thanked all their sponsors, including their mystery box donors: East Texas Liquors, Glen and Judy Weiss, Naples Gift Shop, Pittsburg Tractor, Brookshire’s, JR Mart/Subway, and Pat and Brenda Howard. All monies raised at the event will be used to provide grants for teachers.