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Spelling bee champ Nate "The Great" Gartke and teacher Lynda Diduck—Photo by Koni Macdonald
"We’re all proud of Nate," said Lynda Diduck, spelling bee program coordinator at Victoria School of the Performing and Visual Arts, in Edmonton.
On May 31, Gartke, a Grade 8 student, took second place at the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C., where he competed against more than 200 other top spellers from across North America and other parts of the world. His second-place win earned him US $12,500.
During the school’s June 4 assembly, more than 500 students gathered to give Gartke a hero’s welcome. "The students wouldn’t stop clapping and clapping; they just would not be quiet about how happy they were for him," Diduck said. When she finally silenced the crowd, she told Gartke: "You were runner-up, but you will always be our champion!"
Gartke is the second Albertan to come within a heartbeat of first place at the Scripps National Spelling Bee. Last year, Tofield School’s Finola Hackett also took home second prize. Asked by reporters why he thought Albertans do so well in spelling bee championships, Gartke replied: "I don’t know. I was about to say the school system but then we wouldn’t get any funding."
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