Spelling bee champions from 38 area schools, including five from Warren County, will compete in The Missourian’s regional spelling competition — The Bee — Saturday, April 23, at 9 a.m. at East Central College.This is the sixth year for The Bee, organized by The Missourian and sponsored by the companies. The Missourian is the parent company of The Warren County Record.Schools have been preparing all school year to select their school champion who will represent them at this spelling competition. Students in grades four through eight were eligible to advance to The Bee, where they’ll have the chance to win medals, trophies and cash prizes.Here are The Bee 2016 participants from Warren County: Alex Fregalette, fourth grade, St. Ignatius of Loyola; Maggie Futhey, eighth grade, Holy Rosary; Malayjah Hellebusch, fourth grade, Marthasville Elementary;Grace Knisell, fourth grade, Warrior Ridge Elementary; Natalie Maune, eighth grade, St. Vincent de Paul; and Tristan Mitchell, seventh grade, Black Hawk Middle School.To help students prepare for both their school spelling bees and The Missourian’s regional competition, the newspaper published a 12-page Study Guide to The Bee in January.The resource still may be accessed on The Missourian’sNewspaper In Education pages at www.emissourian.com.ECC will host the competition in the John Edson Anglin Performing Arts Center, located in Hansen Hall at East Central College in Union. Jon Bauer, president of East Central College, will serve as the pronouncer.Judges will be Leigh Kolb, ECC Journalism and English instructor; Josh Stroup, ECC English instructor; and Shannon Grus, ECC Foundation executive director.The Bee steering committee includes Dot Schowe, East Central College; Jennifer Baker, Washington School District; Eric Lause and Jennifer Hawkins, St. Clair School District; and Terri Ogle and Patty Kellmann, retired educators.Dawn Kitchell, educational services director forThe Missourian, organizes The Bee.Students were provided a word list in the study guide to prepare for The Bee, and the competition words will come from that list — at least to a point.According to the official rules, if the judges are unable to determine a champion through the word list provided to the schools, they’ll pull out a “secret list” of words to use.Families, teachers, friends and the general public are invited to watch The Bee.The Bee