Five students emerged as winners as they competed Jan. 17 in the annual District Spelling Bee at Templeton Middle School.

The top spelling students were:

• Kayleigh Winston, champion, Templeton grade 6
• Samantha Moore, finalist, Templeton grade 8
• Erica Nadolski, finalist, St. Agnes
• Andrew O’Neill, finalist, Templeton grade 8
• Rashelle Pershman, finalist, Templeton grade 6

In all, 38 students in grades 5-8 participated in the bee. Students who won classroom or school spelling bees vied for the honor of participating in the District Spelling Bee.

Top spellers of the district level bee advance to the Feb. 8 regional bee at CESA #1 in Pewaukee. Regional winners continue to the Wisconsin Spelling Bee, in hopes of qualifying for the Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee, to be held next June in Washington, D.C.

Various public and private schools participated in Hamilton's event, with “district” referring to a geographical area for the purpose of the spelling bee.

Schools that participated were Lannon, Maple Avenue, Marcy and Woodside elementary schools and Templeton Middle School in the Hamilton School District; and St. Agnes in Butler and Peace Lutheran Academy in Sussex.

The following students competed in the District Spelling Bee:

Templeton
Madison Adams, Ryan Badalamente, Logan Cleary, Skylar Cranfield, Dylan Gissal, Dustin Hartwig, Brian Heling, Samantha Moore, Andrew O’Neill, Rashelle Pershman, Anthony Ross, Allyson Schultz, Shashank Venkataramani and Kayleigh Winston

St. Agnes
Charlie Brockman, Tom Endries, Erica Nadolski and Alaina Valuch

Marcy
Molly Hubred, Lauren Power, Laura Steiner and John Weber

Maple
Mabel Jankowski, Allison Meunier, Paige Nettesheim and Jessica Wishart

Woodside
Hanna Anderegg , Tyler Kebis, Cole Kruk , Olivia Neils , Cole Peske and Holly Venkitaswaran

Lannon
Ty Kozic and Lindsey Sinks

Peace Lutheran
Robert Frerking, Grace Kirk, Julia Perry and Anders Rhode.

Jacque English, Templeton Middle School Spectrum resource teacher, coordinated the Spelling Bee.