Omaha student wins spelling bee

It took more than 10 rounds against seventh-grader Deeksha Stridher and correctly spelling the word "parvule" for fourth-grader Hannah Fernandes of St. Stephen the Martyr School in Omaha to win the Midwest Spelling Bee March 11 in Omaha.

Competing against 70 other third- through eighth-graders, she defeated two other finalists – one from Blair and one from Papillion – in the oral rounds and made it past several written rounds in the three-hour contest, sponsored by the Omaha World-Herald. Stridher, who attends Millard North Middle School in Millard, represented Nebraska last year in the National Geographic Bee.

With the win, Fernandes gets an all-expense-paid trip for two to Washington, D.C., for the Scripps National Spelling Bee May 28 to June 2. She also won a cash prize, a dictionary, a 2017 U.S. Mint proof set and a one-year subscription to an online encyclopedia.

Hannah also joins her sister, fifth-grader Rachel, as a recent contest winner. Rachel was the grand prize winner in December of the Catholic Voice’s kindergarten-through-sixth-grade Colors of Christmas art contest.