USAG BAVARIA – HOHENFELS, Germany – Students of Hohenfels Elementary School took the stage Feb. 10, 2026 at the Post Theater as part of the school’s annual spelling bee.
The students represented six classes from the third, fourth and fifth grades and stood before their classmates and others, who cheered them on, as they repeated each word and spelled them out.
The moderator read each word, differentiated certain words from any possible hominem, provided definitions as needed, and, when asked, gave the spellers examples of the word used in a sentence.
There to ensure neither the student misheard nor the student was misheard, a panel of judges took part in the event. These judges included Angela Lane, the deputy garrison manager for USAG Bavaria – Hohenfels; Michael Lane, active volunteer in the community and Lane’s spouse; and Kris Dohl, administrative officer for the Department of Defense Education Activity at Hohenfels.
Within the first round, two players misspelled their words (jumbo, nacho), and the crowd cheered on each speller until the moderator asked the audience to hold their applause for the completion of each round.
Robert Deverick, HES principal, helped oversee the studentry and cheered on the competitors.
“The spelling bee is one of those time-honored traditions in schools that gives kids a motivating factor to try harder and do better,” he said. “There ere a couple of high fives and thumbs-up from all of the contestants cheering each other on. So it was fantastic.”
Another speller dropped out in the second round, another two in the third. Boycott, widget, dawdle, cricket, penguin and bestow proved too difficult so that the field of competition dwindled to just four.
The four remaining spelled out carnival, kangaroo, calzone and garment correctly. Then the following round three competitors misspelled ingredient, manifesto, jubilant, while one player spelled galaxy correctly.
Isabella Holden, fourth grade, played one solo round, spelling gelato correctly and becoming the spelling bee champion.
The bee, however, had not concluded.
Because three spellers dropped out in one round, those spellers would have to play further to determine second and third places. The first two tiebreaker rounds passed with no letter out of place, with words like aromatherapy, balderdash, cattail, guardian, inclusion and pellet. Then in the third round, Jaxon Dreger misspelled prejudice, leaving fourth graders Mary-Margaret Schnorf and Charlotte Blaha. Blaha spelled goliath and Schnorf misspelled riviera.
The final standing was:
The Hohenfels Elementary School Parent Teacher Organization organized the spelling bee this year, ensuring the event ran smoothly.