TROY — Students from 10 local, Troy public and private schools competed in the Troy City School District’s annual City-Wide Spelling Bee, held on Thursday, Jan. 5, at the Troy High School auditorium.

Sixth-grade Troy Christian Elementary School student Charlie Byrer, won the Spelling Bee by correctly spelling the word “summary.”

“I study a lot and try not to be nervous, and just go up there and have fun,” Byrer said of his strategy to prepare for the event.

“I’ve been preparing for the last week,” he said. “I’ve just been studying a lot.”

Eighth-grade Troy Junior High School student Maliah Shaw was named runner-up in the Spelling Bee. Shaw said she also prepared for approximately one week before the event.

“I was just looking over as many words as I could,” she said.

A total of 10 students participated in the Spelling Bee, representing Concord, Cookson, Forest, Heywood, Hook and Van Cleve elementary schools, Troy Junior High School, Troy Christian Elementary School, St. Patrick’s Elementary School and the Miami Montessori School.

Mike Beamish, former mayor of Troy, hosted the event, and Troy City Schools Superintendent Chris Piper served as pronouncer. John Gibbons, Nancy Johnson, Katy Miller, Beth Landfair and Andrea Weigand served as judges.

The City-Wide Spelling Bee is an annual tradition at Troy City Schools, which has hosted the event for more than 12 years. Students were given the opportunity to ask for definitions of words before spelling them, and for the words to be used in sentences.

Trophies were awarded to the winner and runner-up, and all of the students who participated in the Spelling Bee will also be given the opportunity to participate in an upcoming regional competition for the Scripps National Spelling Bee.

“Because they won their building spelling bee, even if they didn’t win tonight they still have an opportunity to participate in an online assessment,” Troy City Schools Assistant Superintendent Dr. Michael Moore said. “If you score well enough in that online assessment, then you can advance.”

Participants in the 2023 Troy City-Wide Spelling Bee included:

• Oham Patel, a fifth-grade student at Concord Elementary School;

• Daniel Fuller, a fourth-grade student at Cookson Elementary School;

• Sawyer Hill, a fifth-grade student at Forest Elementary School;

• Xavier Chavis, a fifth-grade student at Heywood Elementary School;

• Colin Casey, a fourth-grade student at Hook Elementary School;

• Tanmayee Tallam, a sixth-grade student at the Van Cleve Sixth-Grade Building;

• Maliah Shaw, an eighth-grade student at Troy Junior High School;

• Charlie Byrer, a sixth-grade student at Troy Christian Elementary School;

• Veronica Pannapara, an eighth-grade student at St. Patrick’s School;

• Noah Wahl, a sixth-grade student at Miami Montessori School.