Districtwide Spelling Bee Winners

Debbie Snapp, ECB Publishing, Inc.

Districtwide Spelling Bee winners from area schools including Jefferson Somerset K-12 (JS) and Aucilla Christian Academy (ACA) came together on January 18 to compete for their win at the Regional Spelling Bee in Tallahassee on February 17 at noon.
After the talented students signed themselves in for the competition, they joined their family and friends in the audience. When 7 p.m. came around the students were invited up to the stage to be seated in 'chance' order after pulling a number for placement.
And the winners of the Districtwide Spelling Bee are: first place winner Caitlynn Williams, a 5th grade student at Jefferson Somerset K-12; second place winner Laney Cruce, a 6th grade student at Aucilla Christian Academy; and third place winner Caleb Walker, a 4th grade students at Aucilla Christian Academy.
Students entering the competition included: Jenna Brant, 5th grade ACA, Kaleb Macon, 4th grade JS, Trinity Jaimes, 5th grade JS, Caitlynn Williams, 5th grade JS, Brianna Murray, 7th grade JS, T'Niah Dunlap, 5th grade JS, Christina Walker, 6th grade JS, Caleb Walker, 4th grade ACA, Jadyn Russell, 4th grade ACA, Laney Cruce, 6th grade ACA, Kaitlyn Tharpe, 7th grade ACA, Natalie Clark, 5th grade ACA, and Hayden Ashworth, 5th grade ACA.
Each year, the Scripps National Spelling Bee publishes its School Spelling Bee Study List, a list of 450 words to help students prepare for a school-level spelling bee. These 450 words come from a list of books carefully selected by the Bee’s editorial team for their engaging and age-appropriate content, as well as their rich vocabulary. That list of books is called the Great Words, Great Works list.
Mona Lewis was invited to participate in this year's event as Reader/Speller. John Stephens, with the Jefferson County Clerk of Court, and Allen Vanderson with the Jefferson County Extension Office, were invited serve as bell ringers. John Womble, ACA secondary Social Studies and Faculty Chairman, organized the Thursday evening educational event along with ACA Principal Richard Finlayson.
Capital City Bank sponsored the trophies given to the three winners and FMB sponsored the money gifts for the three winners.