January 21, 2019 

The competition was fierce at the Jefferson County Schools District-Wide Spelling Bee on Thursday, January 17, 2019, hosted by New Market Elementary School.  Tripton, a sixth-grader at White Pine School, took 1st Place after eleven rounds of competition.  Rush Strong School eight-grader Ashlee took 2nd Place.  Maury Middle School’s Xander, also in eighth grade, earned the 3rd Place spot.       

Elementary and middle schools across Jefferson County were well represented by these exemplary spellers.  The winning word was redundancy.  

Kristi Waltek, Elementary Literacy Specialist for Jefferson County Schools, played the role of Announcer, carefully enunciating each work and providing definitions, word origin, and the words used in a sentence as requested by each competitor.  The Spelling Bee was judged by Sherry Finchum, Supervisor of Elementary Education, Federal Programs, and Accountability and Amy Sharp, Instructional Technology and Professional Development Center Coordinator.     

Amy Sharp, Jefferson County Schools 

Instructional Technology and Professional Development Center Coordinator.