Floyd County Schools spelling bee champion is Pepperell Middle student

December 9, 2021–6:37 p.m.

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Pepperell Middle School student Alyssa Alford correctly spelled “flipperling” and then “quantify” to win the Floyd County Schools (FCS) District Spelling Bee Wednesday morning at Model High School. Eight Floyd County students put their spelling skills to the test in the annual competition sponsored by the Floyd County Chapter of the Georgia Association of Educators (GAE). Coosa Middle student Evie Kate Jones won second place and will serve as the alternate for FCS at the next level of competition. Alyssa will represent FCS next at the GAE Region 1 Spelling Bee on Saturday, February 26, 2022, at Georgia Highlands College Lakeview Building. 

Alyssa Alford

Each attendance area sent its 4th-5th grades winner and 6th-8th grades winner to the FCS District Spelling Bee in hopes of taking home the title and a chance to advance to the regional competition. Students in grades 4-8 are eligible for the competition. The group of spellers went through nine rounds of words before a champion was declared in the event, six rounds were performed before naming the two finalists. Lasting less than an hour, the bee was relatively short. However, it included unique words such as “hodgepodge,” “iota,” “eggcorn,” and “cowlick.” 

The event is sponsored each year by the Floyd County Chapter of the Georgia Association of Educators. FCS Spelling Bee Coordinator and district ELA Specialist Barbara Neslin welcomed the audience and spellers on behalf of the system, then read the rules and explained the process of the bee; Coosa Middle School Literacy Coach Shannon Pollitz was the pronouncer of the words; FCS Middle School Literacy Coach Lindsay Norton and FCS High School Literacy Coach Dr. Brittney Phinazee served as spotters and proctors (assisting speller advocates in the event of a question, as well as making sure the audience did not mouth letters to contestants); and FCS Fine Arts Coordinator Sherry Childs, FCS Child Nutrition Director Donna Carver, and Gifted Teacher Apryl Hawkins served as judges.

Attendance Area Spelling Bee winners who participated in the FCS district bee:

Armuchee Attendance Area

4th-5th grades: Carson Tate, AES, 4th grade 

6th-8th grades: Moses Abston, AHS, 8th grade 

Coosa Attendance Area

4th-5th grades: Evie Kate Jones, CMS, 5th grade

6th-8th grades: Audrey Krause, CMS, 7th grade

Model Attendance Area 

4th-5th grades: Alyssa Wigbels, MMS, 5th grade

6th-8th grades: Nick Hosford, MMS, 6th grade

Pepperell Attendance Area

4th-5th grades: Haydin Pearson, PMS, 5th grade

6th-8th grades: Alyssa Alford, PMS, 6th grade

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