The sweet smell of success came in the form of a “gardenia” for Glen Lake seventh-grader Skylar Gleason, who was crowned the Leelanau County Spelling Bee champion Tuesday for the second straight year.

Gleason clinched the title by outlasting 36 other competitors, and successfully spelling gardenia at the end of the event. Her win came after a 6-round standoff with Suttons Bay’s Jack Pasche that included words such as cauliflower, ambulance, worrisome, necessary, predicate and discipline.
SKYLAR GLEASON gives an answer in one of the final rounds of the Leelanau County Spelling Bee Tuesday night. Gleason won the bee for the second straight year.
After Pasche missed on sultan, Gleason had to correctly spell the word and then one more to validate her championship.

In earlier rounds, students from Glen Lake, Leland, Pathfinder, St. Mary and Suttons Bay were eliminated after failing to correctly spell words such as subterranean, omniscient, ductile and latitudinal.
Last year, Gleason wrapped up the bee title by spelling albatross.

The 5-foot-5 Gleason, who is the daughter of Brett and Michelle Gleason of Empire, towered over most of the contestants, who were all in grades 5-8. But she also stood out from other spellers in that she was consistently asked pronouncer and Suttons Bay Middle School Principal Ben Lantz to provide a definition for each word she was asked to spell, or to use it in a sentence.

Gleason and Pasche will represent Leelanau County March 14 in the regional spelling bee at the Opera House in Traverse City. The other four qualifiers were Morgan Jeffrey and Rachel Anderson of Suttons Bay, Anne-Marie Dunklow of Glen Lake, and Christian Stellin of Pathfinder. Emily Burgess of St. Mary and Emily Peck of Suttons Bay are the alternates.

The bee was hosted by Suttons Bay Public Schools, and held in the school auditorium.

Northport failed to register online with the national organization by the December deadline and did not participate in this year’s competition.
ADVANCING TO the regional spelling bee in Traverse City next month are (front row, from left) Christian Stellin (Pathfinder), Jack Pasche (Suttons Bay) and Morgan Jeffrey (Suttons Bay); and (back row, from left) champion Skylar Gleason (Glen Lake), Rachel Anderson (Suttons Bay) and Anne-Marie Dunklow (Glen Lake).
All students received certificates of participation signed by county coordinator Lantz and Enterprise publisher Alan Campbell. Each student advancing to the regional bee was also awarded a pair of tickets to the Bay Theatre along with certificates for popcorn and soft drinks, courtesy of the Enterprise. The regional bee is sponsored by the Traverse City Record-Eagle.

Judges for the event included Suttons Bay Superintendent Mike Murray, Suttons Bay English teacher Lori Wille, and Enterprise copy editor John Tune.

The winner of the regional bee will go to Washington, D.C. to compete in the Scripps National Spelling Bee June 2-4.