Chase Bryant, a seventh grader at DeKalb Middle School, won the 8th annual DeKalb County Spelling Bee Tuesday night at DeKalb County High School. This is the second county spelling championship for Bryant, who also won the title two years ago.
Bryant, the 13 year old son of Donald and Teresa Bryant of Dowelltown was among thirty nine students from the fourth grade to the eighth grade who participated in the contest.
He correctly spelled the word “interrupt” in the ninth round and “karate”” in the tenth round to claim the championship.
Twelve year old Kirkland Smallwood, a seventh grader at DeKalb West School, was the runner-up in the contest. He is the son of Jimmy and Jennifer Smallwood of Liberty.
(The following video clip features Kirkland Smallwood (#25) and Chase Bryant (#30) during the 8th round of the County Spelling Bee Tuesday night, February 8th)
Students from DeKalb Middle School, DeKalb West School, and Northside Elementary School recently competed at the school level to become eligible for the county competition.
Along with students from thirty nine other counties, Bryant and Smallwood will compete in the Tennessean Regional Spelling Bee on March 2nd at Belmont University in Nashville.
The winner of the Regional Spelling Bee will compete in the Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee in Washington D.C.
The purpose of the County Wide Spelling Bee is to help students improve spelling skills, increase vocabularies, learn concepts, and develop correct English usage that will help them all their lives.
Participants in this year’s County Wide Spelling Bee were:
Northside Elementary School:
Fourth Grade- Madison Colwell, Madelyn Hale, Holly Hall, Dulce Maciel, Ashley Phillips, and Derek Young
Fifth Grade- Kayla Belk, Madison Cripps, Abbie Fontanaz, Olivia Fuson, Austin Johnson, Hayley Martin, Allison Maynard, and Shauna Pedroza.
DeKalb Middle School:
Sixth Grade-Halle Burton, Madison Dickens, Alyssa Sewell
Seventh Grade- Chase Bryant
Eighth Grade- Lenzi Dickens, Matthew Foutch, Justin Johnson, Lauren Kilgore, Brooke Reffue, Makayla Starnes, Jacob Washer
DeKalb West School:
Fifth Grade- Ethan Martin and Stacy Taitum
Sixth Grade- Maegan Harris, Bailey Redmon, Hunter Robinson, and Paige Snyder
Seventh Grade- Mary Belle Mofield, Kirkland Smallwood, Morgan Vickers, and Matthew Winsett
Eighth Grade- Leah Burchfield, Justin Cummings, Brandon Elandt, and Nikki Hunt.
Twenty six students advanced to the second round including Leah Burchfield, Hayley Martin, Jacob Washer, Bailey Redmon, Madison Cripps, Stacy Taitum, Brooke Reffue, Hunter Robinson, Derek Young, Maegan Harris, Mary Belle Mofield, Matthew Winsett, Ethan Martin, Ashley Phillips, Kirkland Smallwood, Lenzi Dickens, Chase Bryant, Justin Cummings, Shauna Pedroza, Olivia Fuson, Allison Maynard, Lauren Kilgore, Paige Snyder, Austin Johnson, Molly Hall, and Madison Colwell.
Sixteen students made it to the third round including Leah Burchfield, Hayley Martin, Jacob Washer, Bailey Redmon, Hunter Robinson, Derek Young, Maegan Harris, Mary Belle Mofield, Matthew Winsett, Kirkland Smallwood, Lenzi Dickens, Chase Bryant, Shauna Pedroza, Lauren Kilgore, Paige Snyder, and Austin Johnson
Seven students advanced to the fourth round including Leah Burchfield, Haley Martin, Kirkland Smallwood, Lenzi Dickens, Chase Bryant, Lauren Kilgore, and Paige Snyder.
Advancing to the fifth round were Leah Burchfield, Hayley Martin, Kirkland Smallwood, Lenzi Dickens, Chase Bryant, and Lauren Kilgore.
Spellers in the sixth round were Leah Burchfield, Kirkland Smallwood, Lenzi Dickens, Chase Bryant, and Lauren Kilgore.
In the seventh round, the remaining spellers were Leah Burchfield, Kirkland Smallwood, and Chase Bryant.
Bryant and Smallwood each advanced to the eighth and ninth rounds, before Bryant won the championship in the tenth round.
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