On January 28, 2010, the 2010 Spelling Bee was held at Nauvoo-Colusa Junior High School.  The entire student body met in the gym to watch twenty-one 7th and 8th graders battle it out down to the final two contestants.  Seventh-grader Alexis Dooley and Eighth-grader Hannah Wollbrink went back and forth through several rounds before Hannah finally pulled ahead in the fourteenth round by correctly spelling the word paraplegic.  It was hard to predict who would be left standing as Alexis and Hannah battled through the difficult word list pronounced by English teacher, Mrs. Jana Hubbs.
The winner, Hannah Wollbrink is the fourteen-year-old daughter of Bruce and Cyndy Wollbrink of Sutter, IL.  She will represent Nauvoo-Colusa Junior High School in the Hancock County Spelling Bee later in the year.  Hannah said she wasn’t nervous, but she couldn’t remember what word she correctly spelled to win.  Hannah received a certificate and a new dictionary for her victory.
The runner-up was Alexis Dooley.  Alexis is thirteen years old and is the daughter of Dennis and Tonya Dooley of Sutter, IL.  She thought the words were hard, but that if you really studied the list, you could succeed.  “I thought I would get out the first round.”
Mrs. Hubbs was aided by judges Mrs. Amanda Kreps, math teacher and Mrs. April Anderson, science teacher.

2010 Winner       Runner's Up