John Willoughby
reporter2@greenepublishing.com
A sixth-grade student from Madison County is moving on to the regionals! After winning the Scripps District Spelling Bee, Adyson Hammock will take a shot at moving on to the national competition, while taking a chance at the regional competition in February, which will be held in Jacksonville.
For 95 years, the Scripps National Spelling Bee has been a staple in schools across the country. The purpose of the program is to help students improve their spelling, increase their vocabulary and learn concepts that will help them throughout their lives.
The district competition was held on Friday, Jan. 10, in front of family and friends at the Madison County Extension Office, where nearly 30 students spelled words of all kinds. Participants were selected once they were deemed the champion or runner-up for their school spelling bee.
The participants were as follows:
Fourth Grade: Mackenzi Bach, Aniayah Butler, Elizabeth Fulmer, Layla Gianino, Bryan Contreras-Hernandez, Tristan Knight, Chance McCulley, Amore McKinnon and Samiya Wingate. Not present was Jordyn Russell.
Fifth Grade: Tabitha Brown, Dylan Cox, Sadie Curtis, Vanessa Espinoza-Contreras, Rylee Evans, Jaiden Johnson, Arianna Mazella, Layla Peavey, Madison Roberts and Taraji Turner.
Sixth Grade: Collin Copeland, Adyson Hammock, Isaiah Thornton and Donnell Ware.
Seventh Grade: Taylor Kemp, Dixie Phillips and Rihanna Williams. Not present was Reese Sanchez.
Eighth Grade: Lexi Carroll, Roxanne Gosseck and Trevon Knight. Not present was Tia Williams.
The event was hosted by Dr. Barbara Pettiford, MCSD Adult Education Coordinator. Madison County High School media director Suzanne Griffin administered the words and a number of district employees served as the judges for the event.
First up were the fourth graders. This round served as a preparatory round for the students and concluded their string of competition at the district level. Elizabeth Fulmer took home first place as Mackenzi Bach placed second in the district spelling bee competition. By this time next year, these students could have their chance to compete to win big and move on to the regional round of the spelling bee.
Following, the school winners and runner-ups in fifth through eighth grades took to the podium to vie for their chance to travel to Jacksonville to compete in the regional championship. After six competitive rounds of spelling, sixth-grader Adyson Hammock, from Madison County Central School (MCCS), was named the winner of the district spelling bee. Rihanna Williams, a seventh grader at MCCS, placed second.
Adyson was presented an award of achievement by Thomas Swider, a member of News4Jax, in Jacksonville. News4Jax (WJXT) serves as the sponsor of the Madison County level of competition and will hold the 75th annual First Coast Spelling Bee presented by WJXT on Thursday, Feb. 27, at 8 p.m. If Hammock is unable to compete, Williams will be deemed eligible to participate, according to Dr. Pettiford.
For more information, visit www.spellingbee.com. Congratulations to all of the local winners!