Addison Leonard poses for photos after winning the Piqua City-Wide Spelling Bee on Thursday. Leonard, a student at Piqua Central Intermediate School, first won her school Spelling Bee in order to advance to the city-wide event.
Mike Ullery | Miami Valley Today
By Sam Wildow
PIQUA — Local schools in Piqua participated in the City-Wide Spelling Bee on Thursday evening, sponsored by the Piqua Kiwanis Club.
The event was held at Piqua Central Intermediate School (PCIS), where local student Addison Leonard, 10, was named the champion of the Spelling Bee and Kaden Hampshire, 11, was named the runner-up.
Leonard and Hampshire were each already the champion and runner-up, respectively, of the school-wide Spelling Bee previously held at PCIS, which qualified them for the City-Wide Spelling Bee.
Leonard won Thursday’s City-Wide Spelling Bee after correctly spelling the word “thermostat” after the Spelling Bee went 13 rounds with students from schools in Piqua, including public and private schools.
Leonard, who is the daughter of Tracy and Mike Leonard, said she was happy and excited to be named the champion of the Spelling Bee. Leonard studied that night before the Spelling Bee, and Hampshire, who is the son of Mindy and Brad Hampshire, also studied the guide for the Scripps National Spelling Bee. This was Leonard’s second time participating in the City-Wide Spelling Bee and Hampshire’s first time participating.
“The participants tonight have earned the right to participate as they were declared the winner and the runner-up in their respective classroom and school-wide Spelling Bee, so they’re already winners making it this far this evening,” said Teresa Anderson, director of Curriculum and Instruction at Piqua City Schools.
Participants in the City-Wide Spelling Bee included: Aleigh Martinez and Eleanor Smith, champion and runner-up, respectively, from Springcreek Primary; Hayes Wenrich and Madelyn Reed, champion and runner-up from Washington Primary; Leonard and Hampshire, champion and runner-up from PCIS; Rylan Larsh and Brady Weiss, champion and runner-up from the Piqua Junior High; and the champion of Piqua Catholic School’s Spelling Bee, Olivia Hudgel. The runner-up for Piqua Catholic’s Spelling Bee, Christopher Galbreath, also qualified for the City-Wide Spelling Bee on Thursday, but he was unable to attend the event due to an illness.
