photo by: Courtesy Kansas Press Association

Tyler Nolte, 14, of Nemaha County, won the Sunflower State Spelling Bee March 25, 2023, in Wichita.

An eighth grader from Nemaha County won the Sunflower State Spelling Bee last weekend in Wichita by correctly spelling the words “gadzookery” and “drumlin.”

Tyler Nolte, 14, a student at Nemaha Central Middle School, took home the trophy Saturday from the event at Newman University and will now be eligible to compete in the Scripps National Spelling Bee later this spring in the Washington, D.C., area.

“Gadzookery” comes from the old-fashioned expression “Gadzooks!” which in turn is thought to come from “God’s hooks,” a reference to the nails of the Crucifixion, according to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary. The word “drumlin” is a geological term meaning a hill of glacial drift.

photo by: Chad Lawhorn/Journal-World

Maci Perrins, Langston Hughes Elementary student, shows off her 2023 Douglas County Spelling Bee Championship trophy on Feb. 11, 2023.

Maci Perrins, who won the Douglas County Spelling Bee in February, competed in Wichita with 85 other students. The state bee went for 13 rounds, and Perrins, 10, ended up ranking in fourth place with five others in the seventh round. Perrins, the daughter of Erik and Kristi Perrins, is a fourth grader at Lawrence’s Langston Hughes Elementary School.