“Tête-à-tête.”

With the correct spelling of the championship word,  eighth grader Jason Perè won the All School Spelling Bee and will compete in the regional spelling bee on February 24, 2018.

The regional bee determines which competitors advance to the Scripps National Spelling Bee, the nation’s largest and longest-running educational promotion, held in Washington, DC each May.  This was Dunham’s fifth year to participate in the bee.

The top three spellers in grades 4-8 advanced to the All School Bee through grade level competitions earlier this year. The spellers were challenged through 20 rounds of competition until Jason was the only speller remaining, successfully spelling the championship word. Eighth grader John Walker McDonald was  runner-up after misspelling the word, “expatiated.”

Other students who competed in the Dunham bee include 4th graders Aiden Fee, Parker Roberts and Aldren Thornton; 5th graders Jayda Guidroz, Isaac Ham and Melina Jacobsmeyer; 6th graders Mallory Golightly, Brayden Leblanc and Claire McIlwain; 7th graders Gavin Guerin, Grant Lusco and Austin Stevens; and 8th grader Alise Broussard.

UPDATE/MARCH 1, 2018

Eighth grader Jason Perè finished in the top ten at the Regional Spelling Bee held February 24 at First United Methodist Church in Pontchatoula, La.  Jason, who finished in 10th place, was knocked out of the competition when he stumbled on the spelling of the word "mongrel."  He was one of 53 students representing different schools from Avoyelles, Calcasieu, East Baton Rouge, Iberville, Livingston, Rapides, St. Helena and Tangiphahoa parishes in the competition.