Reading helps Jarretts excel in spelling bee and beyond

Siblings take regionals for
second consecutive year

They’re a brother-sister duo that swept the bee. Twice.

Nathan and Lauren Jarrett have a knack for spelling. For the second consecutive year, the brother and sister won the regional spelling bee in West Salem, Wis.

The secret to their success could be as simple as reading.

“These kiddos are both voracious readers,” said Linda Watson, the sibling’s high performance learning teacher at La Crosse Lincoln Middle School. “The number of vocabulary words that children are exposed to, sky rockets. It’s astronomical just how much vocab you’re exposed to by increasing your reading time for pleasure or by your assignments at school.

Watson says, while they excel in the programs at Lincoln, the Jarretts have spent much of their lives reading and bringing their own drive to succeed at spelling bees at the state and national level.  

Watson says the siblings have set for themselves the goal of competing on stage at the national spelling bee in Washington and simply strive to reach that goal.

Nathan, who is in eighth grade, and Lauren, in sixth, move on to compete in the state bee in Madison next month. Also headed to state from the West Salem regionals: Emily Strom and Vikram Ailiani, who also made the local Top 5 last year, along with Brodyn Byington from Aquinas Middle School.