When preparing for this year’s spelling bee, Abram Mills was looking for a repeat. Not of a word, but that of being Knox County’s top speller.
Twenty two students represented Knox County’s elementary and middle schools at the countywide Bee held on Thursday, February 12, at the Knox County Board of Education in Barbourville.
In the eighth round of competition, Mills, an eighth grader at Knox County Middle, correctly spelled the word “nightingale” to win the annual event for the second consecutive year.
The first runner-up was Reagan Jones, student at G.R. Hampton Elementary. Second runner-up was Jason Ryan Hammons, a student at Dewitt Elementary.
Mills will once again represent Knox County at the Kentucky Derby Festival Spelling Bee to be held Saturday, March 21, in Louisville.
Prior to earning their way to the district spelling bee, all twenty two spellers first compete at a school level bee. This year’s school level winners and county participants were Jacob Osborne and Aniya James from Barbourville Independent, Macy Whitehead and Amelia Jo Napier from Central Elementary, Jason Ryan Hammons and Lukas Mills from Dewitt Elementary, Presley Partin and Raigan King from Flat Lick Elementary, Jayden McCreary and Marena Cain from Girdler Elementary, Reaghan Jones and Kaylee Smith from G.R. Hampton Elementary, Bryce Imel and Angelia Rachelle Gilbert from Jesse D. Lay Elementary, Mason Moore and Hayleigh Duff from Lynn Camp Elementary, Mitchell Buchanan and Jarrett Smith from Barbourville Middle, Abram Mills and Jacob Lindsay from Knox County Middle, and Dylan Wells and Bethany Smith from Lynn Camp Middle.
This year’s Spelling Bee was sponsored by the Knox County office of Kentucky Farm Bureau, the GFWC/KFWC Barbourville Junior Woman’s Study Club, L&N Federal Credit Union, and Forcht Bank. The Knox County Public Schools coordinate and host the event.