While the thought of Lake Michigan may conjure up images of windblown streets in Chicago or busy summer beach towns in western Michigan, you may not be aware that the southern shoreline actually borders three counties (Lake, LaPorte and Porter) in northwest Indiana.
This three-county area boasts an incredibly beautiful shoreline known as the Indiana Dunes, a well-preserved stretch of beaches, forests and grasslands. It's also where you can find Kankakee Valley REMC, the local energy cooperative that is committed to preserving the spelling bee program, even in the midst of school budget cuts.
"With recent budget cuts at many of our schools, this year Kankakee Valley REMC paid $50 towards the enrollment fee for each school in the counties we sponsor," said Amanda Steeb, Communications/Marketing Director for KVREMC. "We are a strong supporter of the area youth and have always offered programs to encourage them to be strong leaders."
This is the seventh year that Kankakee Valley REMC will sponsor the spelling bee
for Lake, LaPorte and Porter counties. A student must advance from a classroom
bee to the school bee, and school bee winners then participate in the county
district bee. The top 10 students at the district bee continue to the regional
bee, where they hear words pronounced by Scott Simerlein, a former Scripps
National Spelling Bee participant.
"We are very fortunate to have Scott serve as our pronouncer at our bees each
year," Steeb said. "The students can relate to him during the competition
because he has been to the Scripps National Spelling Bee."
Last year, the Kankakee Valley REMC regional bee came down to a fourth-grader
versus an eighth-grader, and the two competitors battled through nearly all the
words on the list. After taking a timeout to print the extra words list
provided by Scripps, Sean Ives (the eighth grader) prevailed.
"It was an 'on-the-edge-of-your-seat' competition," Steeb said. "For the
students, this is their big game or race that we would associate with an
athlete. The time a speller devotes to learning and practicing words is a major
task, and one that deserves much applause."