Home-schooler wins regional spelling bee
“Elixir” was a bitter pill for fifth-grader Camille Awbrey in the North Idaho Regional Spelling Bee as seventh-grader Gabriel Cheeley knotted up a victory with “macramé.” The two engaged in a back-and-forth word competition Saturday morning after outlasting nearly 50 other students in fourth through eighth grades.
When Camille misspelled “elixir,” saying an “e” in place of the second “i,” Gabriel strode to the microphone, corrected the spelling and then shot his hands into the air after spelling a word that hasn’t seen much ink since the 1970s.
Great spelling earned the 12-year-old an expenses-paid trip to the Scripps National Spelling Bee from May 30-31 in Washington, D.C.
Only one word during the competition made him pause: “curriculum.”
“That one made me think,” said Gabriel, the fourth of seven children born to Chris and LeeAnn Cheeley, of the Post Falls area.
The Cheeleys home school Gabriel, saying with good-natured parental concern that he needs to boost his grades and fight a tendency to be lackadaisical. When he’s ready, he will go to Oaks Classical Christian Academy in Spokane.
“We knew he would do well if he just got moving and studied,” his mother said.
Gabriel is an avid reader. He has been reading fiction books of political intrigue written by Vince Flynn, as well as fantasy favorites such as Harry Potter novels and the Eragon series.
He worked on spelling with his parents and used a computer program designed to sharpen vocabulary and spelling skills.
When he’s not reading and spelling, Gabriel enjoys swimming, riding four-wheelers and pondering a future as a neurosurgeon.
Other children doing well in the bee included Camille, of Bonners Ferry, who placed second and is sure to a be a tough future competitor; Emily Vester, an eighth-grader from Wallace, who spelled words wonderfully until “teriyaki” tripped her; and Bonners Ferry eighth-grader Sara Owinyo, who led off the nerve-wracking competition and seemed unfazed by any word until stumbling with “colloquial.”
The word “teriyaki” seemed to fit within a theme of words seemingly ripped right from menus as children also spelled and attempted to spell “burrito,” “enchilada,” “chalupa,” “wasabi” and “poi.”