Spelling bee winner, Lora Luhaneck.

By DANI BARKEY
Chief Accountability Officer, Warsaw Community Schools

Lora Kuhaneck, Edgewood Middle School eighth grader, won the Regional Spelling Bee held Saturday, March 7 at IPFW. She will now go on to represent northeast Indiana and northwest Ohio in the national spelling bee in Washington D.C. in late May. She successfully competed through seventeen rounds of spelling words to earn this prestigious honor. Kuhaneck originally won the school spelling bee, then the Kosciusko County spelling bee which resulted in the opportunity to compete at the regional contest.

Lora spelled words like “potentially,” “franchise,” “snaffle,” and ended with correctly spelling “patronizing” to win the regional contest. For fun, the commentators asked her to spell “Kosciusko County” as they wrapped up the contest.

“I want to thank my Mom for helping me study and Mrs. Eberhardt for encouraging me to read. I’m looking forward to going to Washington D.C.” commented Lora Kuhaneck when she returned to Edgewood Monday morning.

“We are so proud of Lora and believe she will be a real contender in the national competition. She will represent Warsaw Community Schools very well.” said JoElla Smyth, her Edgewood Middle School Principal.