Gananda Central School District is proud to announce the winners of the 4th-8th Grade Spelling Bee are 6th grader Draven Winter, 5th grader Mason Strausser, and 4th grader Dominic Minisce as the alternate. 

 A total of nine spellers participated in the spelling bee held at Ruben A. Cirillo High School on Wednesday, March 2, 2022 including fourth graders Mason Mangers, Jacob Rupp, Nicholas Sohns; fifth graders Olivia Ferguson and Jackson Rupp; and seventh grader Brady Wadsworth.

Winter was officially declared the winner of the Bee after 13 rounds with the correct spelling of the word “invasions.” The rounds continued with a face-off between Strausser and Minisce for second and third place after both misspelled their words in round 11. The face-off continued for another eight rounds with Strausser overcoming Minisce by correctly spelling the word “inclined.”

Winter and Strausser will move on to compete in the Regional Spelling Bee held at the Wayne-Finger Lakes Conference Center in Newark, NY on March 19. Minisce will be attending as an alternate in the event one of the Gananda spellers is unable to compete in the regional competition. The winner of the Regional Bee will then move on to compete in the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C. on June 1 and 2, 2022. 

To celebrate the importance of literacy, the Gananda Rotary Club donates the trophies to the school each year to honor the winners.