Williston Rickard Elementary School sixth-grader Kiana Shui just moved to the Williston Public School District 1 this school year and now finds herself moving on to the annual Williams County Spelling Bee.

Shui is the winner of the sixth-grade division as a result of the district's spelling bee competition Thursday afternoon at the Lewis & Clark Elementary School. She next competes during the Wednesday, Feb. 24, county event at Williston's Wilkinson Elementary School.

The district competition involved competitors from its four elementary schools in grades 1-6. Joining Shui as a winner Thursday were first-grader Grant Gathman, Hagan Elementary School, second-grader Lily Williams, Hagan, third-grader Parker Haider, Lewis & Clark, fourth-grader Trey Lynch, Hagan and fifth-grader Aliyah Osborn, Hagan.

Shui said she wasn't really nervous heading into Thursday's district competition. The district event did not involve any oral competition. Instead, words were read to the students and were used in a sentence so they understood its proper meaning.

The soft-spoken Shui may be considered a bit of a surprise. "I actually didn't know my class was having a spelling bee," she said of the first competition that was held in her Rickard sixth-grade class.

Shui said she reads most every day, especially fiction, which helps a bit to prepare for the spelling bee. She studied just a little bit immediately prior to Thursday's competition.

"My mom printed out some words last night and I actually saw two of them on the test," she said.

Now that she is moving on to the third round of the competition, Shui intends to practice some more by studying words.

Lewis & Clark principal Terry Quintus said the school district has regular spelling classes as part of its curriculum. By using phonetic awareness skills learned in the classroom, "If there is an unfamiliar word, hopefully they can break it down," he said.

Students were given a list of 25 words to spell. In the case of a tie, the entire group is given another word to spell until a winner appears. The sixth-grade list included such words a mayonnaise, limousine and mortgage.

"When I looked at the sixth-grade list, I said, 'Whoa,'" Quintus said of the difficulty of the list.