Gathering students from across the county, South Carolina’s Aiken County held the district’s annual spelling bee on Monday evening, Feb. 5, in downtown Aiken.
Hosted at the Amentum Center for Performing Arts, located at 126 Newberry St., the Aiken County Public School District’s Scripps National Spelling Bee finals consisted of 14 competitors from various middle and elementary schools.
“This is a great night of fun that I enjoy every year,” said Superintendent King Laurence.
Judges for the event consisted of Micki Dove, the director of Curriculum Support from Aiken County Public Schools, Uyen Griffis, Aiken County’s 2023 District Teacher of the Year and Jeff Wallace, a retired editor of the Aiken Standard Newspaper.
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“It’s great to be here. The Aiken Standard likes supporting this event, and we’ve been a partner of the school district for a very long time,” said John Boyette, Aiken Standard’s executive editor. “Many, many years ago, I was in the same spots as y’all … and all of you are winners no matter what happens tonight.”
Sponsored in partnership with the Aiken Standard newspaper and the Savannah River Mission Completion, the competition tested students’ ability to spell challenging words, such as “Bunsen burner” and “sentinel.”
Eliminated one by one with each round of words, the competition ended with 10-year-old Dorothea Viner, from Belvedere Elementary School, winning after correctly spelling “Erlenmeyer flask.”
Overwhelmed and shy, Viner could not express her excitement and simply said she was never nervous and expected to win.
After the spelling bee ended, Dean Campbell, on behalf of Savannah River Mission Completion, awarded all contestants with $100 gift cards to Books-A-Million to further promote literacy.
In addition, runner up Grant Kreitzer, from New Ellenton Middle STEAM Magnet School and Viner both received congratulatory plaques from Boyette before smiling for photos.
For placing first, Viner was also awarded a brand new iPad courtesy of Savannah River Mission Completion.
The competition’s top five spellers, including Viner and Kreitzer, featured Jada Brown from Aiken Intermediate School, Caleb Rojas Bohn of Ridge Spring-Monetta Middle School and Carter Little of Jackson STEM Magnet Middle School.
“Congratulations to all of you,” said Laurence.
Following award presentations and photos, attendees and participants enjoyed refreshments together before departing for the night.
The district’s top five contestants will next advance to the regional spelling bee on March 16 at noon in Charlotte, N.C. Winners of the regional spelling bee will then get to compete in the Scripps National Spelling, held in Washington, D.C.
For more information about upcoming Scripps National Spelling Bee competitions, visit: https://www.panthers.com/community/spelling-bee.
Liz Wright is a staff writer covering education, lifestyle and general assignments for The Augusta Press. Reach her at liz@theaugustapress.com.
