Columbian Hannah Knowlton began round one of the Intelligencer-Journal sponsored annual spelling bee (this is the 53rd year that the Intelligencer-Journal has sponsored this event) tonight at Conestoga Valley Middle School with a halting “lar … (pause) iat.” Then she boldly and confidently breezed through “percolate” in round two.

But as Lancaster Newspapers’ Community Services Manager, Dr.  Ann Marie Steele, said in her remarks at the end of the evening, “This year’s group of contestants really was an exceptional group.”

We sat in the crowd of more than 250 parents and supporters as 30 elementary and middle school students representing schools across Lancaster County held everyone’s attention during the riveting two plus hour competition. Nearly a dozen of the students (actually an even a dozen; we lost count … remember, we said it was intense!) missed their words by the time Hannah was given the word “obsequious” in the third round. She just missed it, but that was the end of the spelling part of the this year’s spelling bee for her.

We will wait to attach tomorrow’s Lancaster Newspapers’ article about the Spelling Bee (now attached; watch the video, too). But we wanted to give you the first report about Hannah’s journey.  So, please allow us the opportunity to congratulate Hannah and thank her supportive family and friends, her classmates and teachers at Our Lady of the Angels school and everyone in Columbia for supporting her tonight.

[Editor’s note]: A reader comment at the www.lancasteronline.com site says, “Congratulations and best of luck to this young man! Nicely done, well deserved, I’m sure.” We agree; we thought the winner’s humility, poise and sharing of the limelight with the other students when he stated that “words lined up for me” ought to be a model for Academy Award winners and others like that.