By Darrell Halen 

Standing at a microphone and in front of a large audience, Renee Gagnon, 11, spelled the word “implement.”

When Superintendent Frank Bass responded, “That is correct,” the audience erupted in applause.

Because Renee spelled the word correctly and her two competitors misspelled the words given to them in the same round, she became the winner of Pelham Elementary School’s first spelling bee.

“I’m so excited I could just jump up and down,” Renee, a fifth-grader, said after the Thursday, Jan. 31, competition.

As the school winner, Renee will go on to a regional competition. If she’s successful there, she’ll advance to a state spelling bee.

Renee was one of 25 students from grades 3 through 5 who competed in the school contest. They had each won in their classrooms.

Each student was given one word to spell in the first round. “Cosmos,” “sarcasm,” and “pecan” were among the words spelled correctly. Misspelled words included “yacht,” “virtuoso” and “liverwurst.”

The eight students who correctly spelled their word advanced to the second round. From there, Renee, Mackenzie Bryant and Kaylie Golding emerged as the three finalists.

Three short rounds later, Renee emerged as the winner, and soon after, MacKenzie won the spot as her alternate when she spelled “confetti” correctly.

Principal Alicia LaFrance, School Board member Eleanor Burton and parent volunteer Judy Hayes served as judges. Once a student said a letter, they could not take it back.

Renee and Mackenzie were each awarded ribbons, and every participant was given a certificate of achievement.

LaFrance told the audience – made of up students, parents and teachers – that it’s not easy for the participants to compete in front of other people. And she encouraged the audience to give the spellers a big round of applause.