{"id":13738,"date":"2026-01-29T20:00:01","date_gmt":"2026-01-30T03:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/grandeur-determines-champion-at-farmington-municipal-school-district-spelling-bee\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T21:40:54","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T03:40:54","slug":"grandeur-determines-champion-at-farmington-municipal-school-district-spelling-bee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/grandeur-determines-champion-at-farmington-municipal-school-district-spelling-bee\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Grandeur\u2019 determines champion at Farmington Municipal School District Spelling Bee"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"From
From left, first\u2011place winner Cuillena Spacek, second\u2011place finisher Chamonix Willimon and third\u2011place finisher Lily Loehn stand together after the Farmington Municipal Schools Spelling Bee on Jan. 27 at the Turano\u2013Chrisman Performing Arts Theater. (Courtesy Farmington Municipal Schools)<\/span>Alx Lee<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

After 21 rounds of spelling during the Farmington Municipal School District Spelling\u00a0Bee, Cuillena Spacek, who attends Pinon Hills Academy, successfully spelled the word \u201cgrandeur,\u201d securing her spot as the champion for the 2025\u20132026 school year.<\/p>\n

The spelling bee was held at Piedra Vista High School\u2019s Turano\u2013Chrisman Performing Arts Theater on Tuesday night before a crowd of supporters.<\/p>\n

Twenty\u2011four students in grades three through eight competed with words such as \u201clasagna,\u201d \u201csquabble,\u201d \u201cgargle\u201d and \u201cmuddle.\u201d<\/p>\n

Spacek said the word \u201cforfeit\u201d was a challenging word that she had to recall when it was given to her.<\/p>\n

This was her fourth spelling bee and her first champion title, she said.<\/p>\n

Using a study guide, Spacek said her practice routine was spelling out every word every day, starting with easier words and ending with more difficult ones.<\/p>\n

Chamonix Willimon, a seventh grader at Heights Middle School, took second place after not spelling the word \u201cfelonious\u201d correctly.<\/p>\n

Spacek correctly spelled \u201cfelonious,\u201d advancing the champion round and claiming the title when she spelled \u201cgrandeur.\u201d<\/p>\n

Willimon said the word \u201chors d\u2019oeuvres\u201d was a challenging word, while \u201cpatisserie\u201d was a personal favorite she learned in her daily practice leading up to the competition.<\/p>\n

Lily Loehn, who attends Mesa Verde Elementary School, took third place and caught the attention of the event organizers.<\/p>\n

\u201cI admire her attitude \u2013 she skipped up to the podium and she just seemed so enthusiastic and happy to be there,\u201d said judge Julia Scott.<\/p>\n

Loehn displayed sportsmanship throughout the competition by clapping for other spellers and offering them a pat on the back after spelling.<\/p>\n

Jaden Alex, a fourth grader from Country Club Elementary, said he practiced every day with the help of his mom, who read the words as he spelled them out verbally.<\/p>\n

\u201cI felt nervous, but then once I was up there for a minute, I got used to it,\u201d he said about competing that evening.<\/p>\n

Alex did not advance past the third round but said he would be interested in competing again next year.<\/p>\n

\u201cListening to these kids, I knew that sometimes they were just spelling it blindly, and that takes a lot of talent and skill,\u201d said Scott. \u201cThey did a great job.\u201d<\/p>\n

The first\u2011 and second\u2011place winners will advance to an online qualifying round that will determine their chance at the New Mexico State Spelling Bee on March\u00a021, according to coordinator Debra Mayeux.<\/p>\n

\"Jaden
Jaden Alex, a fourth grader at Country Club Elementary, pauses to think through his word during the Farmington Municipal School District Spelling Bee on Jan. 27 at the Piedra Vista Turano\u2013Chrisman Performing Arts Theater. (Alx Lee\/Tri\u2011City Record)<\/span>Alx Lee<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

several grade levels across district for night of competitive spelling<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13739,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[1240,1222,155,799,28,1241,29],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-13738","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-aztec","tag-bloomfield","tag-education","tag-farmington","tag-headlines","tag-kirtland","tag-newsletter"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13738","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13738"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13738\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20678,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13738\/revisions\/20678"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13739"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13738"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13738"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13738"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=13738"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}