Forty-two students will be competing in the ninth Annual County Wide Spelling Bee on Feb. 2 at DeKalb County High School. Earlier in the year, students from DeKalb West School, DeKalb Middle School and Northside Elementary School competed at the school level to become eligible for the county competition. The competition will be broadcasted live on WJLE.
Along with 39 counties, the first-and second-place winners in the DeKalb County Spelling Bee will compete in the Middle Tennessee Regional Spelling Bee on Friday, March 2, at Belmont University in Nashville. This event is sponsored by Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz and Belmont University. The winner of the Regional Spelling Bee will compete in the Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C.
The purpose of sponsoring the County Wide Spelling Bee is to “help students improve spelling skills, increase vocabularies, learn concepts and develop correct English usage that will help them all of their lives.”
Participants in this year’s county wide spelling bee are: DeKalb West School students-Lexy Gammons, Christian Trail and Kelsey Wade from fourth grade; Callie Mulloy, Harley Sloan and Thomas Tippin from fifth grade; Jacob Frazier and Mark Mace from sixth grade; Jayra Plattenburg, Brandy Rock and Casey Vickers from seventh grade; Madison Hayes, Mary Mofield, Kirkland Smallwood and Morgan Vickers from eighth grade. Northside Elementary School students: Chantz Bowling, Anna Chew, Malia Stanley, Isaac Cross, Braxton Hutchings, Katherine Malone, Raiden Martin and Logan Speaks from fourth grade; Madi Cantrell, Malone Fletcher, Molly Hall, Dulce Marcel, Ashley Phillips, Derek Young, Christian Sisk and Isaac Walker from fifth grade. Students from DeKalb Middle School are: Kayla Belk, Olivia Fuson, Haley Martin, Allison Maynard, Shauna Pedroza, Hunter Speaks and Justin Stanick from sixth grade; Alexis Cantrell, Timothy Cassinera, Reagan Patton, Skylar Pease and Alyssa Sewell from seventh grade.