BEDFORD – The 48th WBIW Annual Lawrence County Spelling Bee Champion title went to Paige Voigtschild, a 7th grader in the Home School category.
Voigtschild won the championship title after spelling the word quiver correctly in the 6th round.
No stranger to the spelling bee, Paige has participated in each spelling bee since 2020 where she won the first day and won the first runner-up position after defeating her brother Quentin in a spell off.
Paige has also participated in the many races throughout Lawrence County. She said that the spelling bee was much more nerve-racking than preparing for a 5K run.
“I studied a lot in the last week. It feels good to win, I’m excited,” said Paige. “I would say between the spelling bee and racing, this definitely made me more nervous.”
Her mother Kathy Voigtschild said she was very proud of the hard work that Paige put into studying for the spelling bee, a feat that is familiar with the family.
“We are very proud of her. She studied very hard this week and I am excited that she was able to win this year. Her older brother and sister have both won twice each before getting number three here to carry it on.”
Paige’s favorite subject to study is Latin and she is excited to get her pineapple pizza from Papa John’s to share with her family and classmates as the champion of the 48th Annual WBIW Lawrence County Spelling Bee.
Middle row: day-one champion Kane Schmeichel, Brett Elpers, and Chloe Collins
Front row: Kaegan Hanners, Paige Voigtschild, and Noah Childers
The first runner-up was Kaegan Hanners, a 7th grader from Oolitic Middle School, after making it to the sixth round with Paige and misspelling the difficult word egret.
Noah Childers, a 7th grader from St. Vincent de Paul Catholics School, was able to secure the third-place finisher position in a one-round spell off against 8th grader Gibby Evans of Bedford Middle School, after correctly spelling the word bilingual. Gibby misspelled the word enthusiasm.
Paige will be awarded a $100 cash prize provided by Bedford Federal Savings Bank, a pizza party provided by Papa Johns Pizza, a t-shirt, and a spelling bee trophy. All participants received a 1340 AM WBIW Spelling Bee t-shirt and a participant certificate upon completion of the competition.
You can tune into WQRK 105.5 today to learn more about Paige as she interviews on the Sean Duncan Show in the 9:00 a.m. hour.
