District 161 recognized district-wide spelling bee participants at the Feb. 19 Board of Education meeting. 

Fourteen students from the district’s four elementary schools participated in the 11-round spelling bee at Parker on Jan. 31. 

The students studied a list of more than 400 words and learned about different languages and cultures in preparation for the spelling bee.

Nyla Whittier, a fifth-grade student at Flossmoor Hills Elementary School, won the competition by spelling the word “Trinidadian” correctly. Trinidadian is a word used to describe someone from Trinidad, an island in the Caribbean.