MONROE - Sometimes, a little push is all it takes to bring out the best in us.
That might have been the case for eighth-grader Autticah Symons Wednesday, who said he only participated in the spelling bee after getting roped in by a friend.
Symons walked away as the Monroe Middle School winner, after outspelling more than 50 other students.
"It just kinda happened," Symons said.
The competition brought in fifth-graders from Abraham Lincoln, Northside, Parkside and St. Victor School elementary schools in Monroe along with sixth- through eighth- graders at the middle school.
The group muscled through 10 rounds of spelling. Clayton Waski, a seventh-grader, took second place.
Both boys misspelled the word "litany" but Symons pulled ahead when he was able to correctly spell "repast" and then sealed the win by comfortably spelling "nebulosity."
Waski competed in the state spelling bee last year and knew what to expect. He started studying the word list provided by the Scripps National Spelling Bee as soon as it was released in late December. He had friends and family help him study, and he methodically reviewed his mistakes to correct them in preparation.
Symons however, didn't bother with any of that.
"I didn't even know there was a list," Symons said.
Broderick Cornfield, a fifth-grade student from Northside Elementary School, took home third place, and expressed a sigh of relief each time he progressed to the next level.
"I was flipping out," Cornfield said.
Cornfield said he plans on competing in the spelling bee again next year.
The first round contained simple words such as "castle" and "amusing," but round two brought in some trickier vocabulary, like "grandiose" and "ricochet."
The word "manure" triggered snickers from some of the participants.
"I don't know why they put this in a middle school list," joked Michael Flanagan, MMS Language Arts Teacher, who also served as the event's announcer.
As participants battled in the final rounds they were thrown a few curveball words like "labyrinthine" and "subterranean."
Symons had participated in the spelling bee when he was in the fifth grade but lost interest, he said. Until his friend, Elijah Bansley, convinced him to do it, he didn't plan to take part. Bansley made it to first alternate.
"I've always been pretty good when it comes to spelling," Symons said.
Symons will move on to compete in the regional spelling bee in late February, where he will take on the winners from 48 other districts in the CESA 2 region, which includes Dane, Rock, Jefferson, Walworth, Racine/Kenosha and Green County.
Symons hasn't decided yet if he'll study for the regional bee.
"I might," he said.
That might have been the case for eighth-grader Autticah Symons Wednesday, who said he only participated in the spelling bee after getting roped in by a friend.
Symons walked away as the Monroe Middle School winner, after outspelling more than 50 other students.
"It just kinda happened," Symons said.
The competition brought in fifth-graders from Abraham Lincoln, Northside, Parkside and St. Victor School elementary schools in Monroe along with sixth- through eighth- graders at the middle school.
The group muscled through 10 rounds of spelling. Clayton Waski, a seventh-grader, took second place.
Both boys misspelled the word "litany" but Symons pulled ahead when he was able to correctly spell "repast" and then sealed the win by comfortably spelling "nebulosity."
Waski competed in the state spelling bee last year and knew what to expect. He started studying the word list provided by the Scripps National Spelling Bee as soon as it was released in late December. He had friends and family help him study, and he methodically reviewed his mistakes to correct them in preparation.
Symons however, didn't bother with any of that.
"I didn't even know there was a list," Symons said.
Broderick Cornfield, a fifth-grade student from Northside Elementary School, took home third place, and expressed a sigh of relief each time he progressed to the next level.
"I was flipping out," Cornfield said.
Cornfield said he plans on competing in the spelling bee again next year.
The first round contained simple words such as "castle" and "amusing," but round two brought in some trickier vocabulary, like "grandiose" and "ricochet."
The word "manure" triggered snickers from some of the participants.
"I don't know why they put this in a middle school list," joked Michael Flanagan, MMS Language Arts Teacher, who also served as the event's announcer.
As participants battled in the final rounds they were thrown a few curveball words like "labyrinthine" and "subterranean."
Symons had participated in the spelling bee when he was in the fifth grade but lost interest, he said. Until his friend, Elijah Bansley, convinced him to do it, he didn't plan to take part. Bansley made it to first alternate.
"I've always been pretty good when it comes to spelling," Symons said.
Symons will move on to compete in the regional spelling bee in late February, where he will take on the winners from 48 other districts in the CESA 2 region, which includes Dane, Rock, Jefferson, Walworth, Racine/Kenosha and Green County.
Symons hasn't decided yet if he'll study for the regional bee.
"I might," he said.