Xander and the Bee

Voigt will go on to compete in the County Spelling bee

“Y-E-O-M-A-N. Yeoman.”

That was the word that won Xander Voigt the Madison Elementary Spelling Bee, Tuesday, Dec. 7.

The fifth-grader out-spelled 38 other students in the annual competition.

“I am surprised I actually made this,” the 10-year-old said. “My mother is going to be proud.”

Pronounced “(yō`mən)” the word means “an attendant or officer in a royal or noble household; or a person attending or assisting another.” It the final word given in the contest, but “cumulonimbus” which is a type of cloud, was the word that got him into the final round of spellers.

“I knew ‘-nimbus,’ but improvised the ‘comulo-’ part,” he said. “If I can take off a part of the word I know, I memorize that part, and improvise on what the rest of the word sounds like.”

Voigt said he prepared by studying and using multiple methods of learning words.

“I considered myself lucky,” Voigt said. “I got the words I studied.”

Debbie Cox, media specialist at Madison Elementary, said Voigt is an articulate and intelligent student who was deserving of his accomplishment.

“It’s a pleasure to see student enjoy successes,” Cox said. “Everyone did a really good job. The performances were outstanding. It was evident that they had prepared and took this challenge seriously.”

Voigt will go on to compete in the county spelling bee Feb. 8.

“I’ve got a lot of studying ahead of me,” Voigt said.