Dibrell Elementary School eighth-grader Grant Collins spelled his way to first place at the Warren County District Spelling Bee Monday night. Correctly spelling the word "philtrum" clinched the championship and a Chromebook for Collins.
The Spelling Bee was held at Warren County Middle School at 5 p.m. Nine students in grades fourth through eighth were scheduled to represent their schools. Tobin Clever represented Bobby Ray Elementary, Elijah Smith-Young represented Centertown Elementary, Collins represented Dibrell, Harley Harris represented Eastside Elementary, Lawson Denning represented Hickory Creek Elementary, Gavin Parsley represented Irving College Elementary, Willow Meade represented Morrison Elementary, Sagan Sullivan represented WCMS and Hudson Heatherly represented West Elementary. Sullivan and Clever were absent, leaving seven students to compete.
The words were divided into rounds. Each round, the student would be given a word to spell and if they spelled it wrong they would hear a bell and were eliminated. They could ask the announcer for: definition, the word to be used in a sentence, part of speech, language and alternate pronunciation.
In round one, students spelled the words: “more,” “near,” “back,” “why,” “hair,” “zip” and “snap.” In round two, the words were: “dear,” “enter,” “stall,” “brain,” “stood,” “pole” and “grand.” The words in round three were, “music,” “present,” “clearly,” “anybody,” “shutters,” “while” and “stew.”
In round four, the words were: “rotten,” “important,” “peaceful,” “flitting,” “drawl,” “squash” and “flea.” Denning was eliminated on the word, “flitting.” In round five, the words were: “wisdom,” “fowl,” “possible,” “appreciation,” “donut” and “awfully.”
The words in round three were: “vultures,” “information,” “disgruntled,” “privilege,” “turban” and “Vaseline.” Parsley was eliminated on the word, “privilege.” In round seven, the words were: “spawned,” “categorically,” “chasm,” “deficiencies” and “acclimate.”
In round eight, the words were: “conciliatory,” “turquoise,” “antimony,” “centrifuge” and “thyroid.” Two students were eliminated this round. Smith-Young was eliminated on the word, “conciliatory” and Harris was eliminated on the word, “antimony.”
There were only three students left by round nine. In this round, the words were: “Tetrazzini,” “craquelure” and “Albuquerque.” Heatherly was eliminated on the word, “Albuquerque.” In round 10, Collins spelled “coccidiosis” and Meade spelled “rooibos.”
In round 11, Collins spelled “Shaanxi” and Meade spelled “Okefenokee.” In round 12, Collins spelled “calcitonin.” Meade’s word was “quomido” and she missed it by one letter. For round 13, Collins had to spell “philtrum” for the win.
After 13 rounds, Collins was declared the district winter. When asked how it felt to win, he said, “It feels pretty good!” For winning at the district level, Collins won a Chromebook.
