Mat-Su students compete in spelling bee

PALMER — Prior to the state spelling bee at the Alaska Center for the Performing Arts in Anchorage on March 25, Mat-Su Borough School District Schools have been hosting their own school spelling bee’s to crown champions for each school that will be sent to the state competition.

On Thursday, Ainsley Palenske, a 10-year-old fifth grader at Pioneer Peak Elementary School, correctly spelled the word ‘shepherd’ to win the 2020 bee, defending her 2019 title as Pioneer Peak spelling bee champion. Palenske’s mother Emily got a front row seat to watch Ainsley win in front of a gym full of Pioneer Peak students.

“It was nerve racking,” said Palenske. “I was feeling really grateful because when I was studying that word I had gotten it wrong so I studied it extra and I’m glad I studied it extra.”

Without misspelling a word, Ainsley Palenske made it through 16 rounds of the spelling bee, correctly spelling carpenter, throttle, gingerbread, audience and sanitized en route to winning. Pioneer Peak fourth grader Peytyn Minoza finished second, followed by fifth grader Ella Carleton and fourth graders Skylar Reiss and Danick Asbury.

After winning the Spelling Bee on Thursday, Palenske then went to compete in the state Battle of the Books competition with her Pioneer Peak classmates. Palenske is in Lindsay Holman’s fifth grade class and her favorite book is “Harry Potter.”

Mat-Su Borough School District Superintendent Dr. Monica Goyette, Director of Instruction Reese Everett and Pioneer Peak teacher Mary Watts served as judges for the bee, showing a green card for correctly spelled words and a red card for incorrectly spelled words.

“I’m actually a pretty good speller but it takes a lot of work to study the words. It takes a while and you have to make sure that you memorize them,” said Ainsley Palenske. “We study a list at a time so we study like Japan one day and then we study latin and greek.”

After nine rounds of words, only four students remained in the bee. Classes that were watching the spellers from the gym floor began to hang on every letter, cheering on their classmates who had succeeded. Palenske competed in the state spelling bee in 2019 and will study hard over the next month hoping to do the best she can at the state spelling bee next month. Joining Palenske after winning spelling bees elsewhere within MSBSD schools are fifth grader Tristan Collins from Tanaina Elementary, fourth grader Karter Johnson from Iditarod Elementary and seventh grader Harriette Kost from Palmer Junior Middle School.

“The words are a lot harder,” said Palenske of the state meet.

Emily Palenske read Ainsley words for hours, giving their language of origin and using them in a sentence as spellers competed against one another. While serving as the moderator, Palenske was proud of her daughter’s accomplishment winning her second spelling bee in a row.

“She’s just she just works so hard,” said Emily Palenske. “We know from experience that going to the state spelling bee is a ton of work. There’s over 1,400 words on that spelling list so she’s in for it. She’s up for the job.”

Palmer Junior Middle School teacher Linda Jo Klapperich has been organizing the spelling bee at PJMS for over 15 years and spread out throughout the district to moderate spelling bee’s across a handful of other MSBSD schools. Klapperich’s daughter Angelina, who now works as a counselor within MSBSD schools, also judged the PJMS spelling bee.