2015 Altrusa Spelling Bee

The 8th annual Altrusa Spelling Bee was held Saturday, March 28, at the SEA-TECH Skills Center on the WWCC campus. Seventy-seven spellers participated in the competition for third, fourth and fifth graders. Students represented public and private elementary schools in the Walla Walla Valley, including Milton-Freewater and Vista Hermosa.

There were two sessions for each grade, with the top two spellers from each session competing for the championship in a spell-off. The top four finalists for each grade received prizes for demonstrating their spelling skills after going through most of the words from a study list and then moving on to challenge words that they had not seen.

Winners were as follows:

Fifth Grade
First Place: Trent Crudup, Edison
Second Place: Mary Elizabeth Balof, Assumption
Third Place: Hope Knowlton, Freewater
Fourth Place: Raj Patel, Green Park

Fourth Grade
First Place: Summer Kelnhofer, Liberty Christian
Second Place: Cesar Meza, Freewater
Third Place: Trace Floch, Davis
Fourth Place: Emmett James, Berney

Third Grade
First Place: Henry Sharon, Prospect Point
Second Place: Vincenzo Aveni, St. Basil
Third Grade: Meg Hokanson, Prospect Point
Fourth Place: Ezekiel Durand, Davis

Altrusa International of Walla Walla is a service organization that focuses on building a better community through literacy and leadership. Walla Walla Public Schools was one of the event sponsors.