Students participate in spelling bee

Dr. Judy Holton, Jenkins County Elementary School principal, shown at center, presented a trophy to Jenkins County spelling champion Emily Edenfield, shown at right, and a medal to the county spelling bee runner-up, Jasmine Williams, shown at left, after the County Spelling Bee held Wednesday, Jan. 30. (Photo contributed)

The Jenkins County school system recently participated in the Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee. The national spelling bee is open to students in third through eighth grades who have exhibited superior spelling abilities. In order for a student to advance to the national spelling bee, they have to advance through several levels of competition including their classroom level, school level, county level, district level and regional level.

Locally, both the Jenkins County Elementary School (JCES) and Jenkins County Middle School (JCMS) participated in this year's county spelling bee held Wednesday, Jan. 30. The county spelling bee was hosted by JCES, with JCES GTO teacher Leila Dickens calling the words and Sylvia Gay, district spelling bee coordinator, and Randy Dailey, JCMS assistant principal, officiating.

Six students from the middle school and four students from the elementary school participated in the bee. Every student made it through several rounds of competition, but the seventh and eighth rounds knocked everyone out except Emily Edenfield and Jasmine Williams. Several more rounds of competition between these two students ended with eighth grader Emily Edenfield as the champion and fifth grader Jasmine Williams as the runner-up.

Edenfield will advance to the district qualifying round for the Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee, which will take place at the Augusta Chronicle building in Augusta in March. Edenfield is an excellent speller. This is her fifth time in the local spelling bee, but it is her first time going to the district bee.