On Wednesday, February 7th, West Holt Public Schools hosted 28 students for the 2024 Holt County Spelling Bee competition. 5th through 8th grade students from Chambers, O’Neill, Stuart, and West Holt took part in the competition. To be eligible for the Holt County Spelling Bee, the participating schools must be registered through the Scripps National Spelling Bee website. Once the school is registered, they can send two class winners from each 5th-8th grade class to compete in the County competition.
The 2024 Holt County Spelling Bee began with multiple written rounds until the field of 28 was narrowed down to 11 finalists. These 11 finalists then participated in an Oral Spelling Bee competition until the champion was crowned. The 2024 Holt County Spelling Bee Champion was 6th grader Noah Kaiser from O’Neill Elementary School. Brayden Dobias, an 8th grader from West Holt, was the Runner-up. Robert Peterson, an 8th grader from Stuart, and Draeger Scott, a 7th grader from Chambers, tied for 3rd place.
As the Holt County Spelling Bee Champion, Noah Kaiser will move on to the Nebraska State Spelling Bee hosted by the Omaha Sports Council at the University of Nebraska at Omaha campus on Saturday, March 9th.