Woodstock Fifth Grader Wins District Spelling Bee

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Woodstock GA -- Woodstock Elementary School fifth-grader James Sow won the Cherokee County School District Spelling Bee last week, besting a stage full of school champion spellers from the district’s elementary and middle schools.

The final round of the competition, held Thursday, Jan. 21 at Woodstock High School, pitted James against two middle school students, but the youngest of the three prevailed, and both seventh-graders congratulated James on his win.

Jacob Tate of E.T. Booth Middle School placed second in the contest while Callie Goins of Mill Creek Middle School came in third. Rounding out the top four was Shelby Rhoades, an eighth-grader from Woodstock Middle School.

All four district finalists will compete in the Georgia Association of Educators District Spelling Bee on Feb. 27 in Cobb County.

Thirty-one Cherokee County students put their spelling skills to the test in annual competition, sponsored by GAE and the Cherokee Association of Educators. More than 80 words were attempted during the competition, including tricky terms like “idiosyncratic,” “eleemosynary,” “force majeure” and “nunchaku.”

When James was given his final word to spell for the win, he wasn’t sure he heard the caller correctly.

“Tutu? Like the dancing skirt?” he asked with surprise, which prompted some laughter from the audience. When provided the definition, James grinned and quickly spelled the word correctly. The list of words used for the bee is generated prior to the event, using an official list of words provided by the National Scripps Bee.

Each elementary and middle school sent its school-level winner to the district Spelling Bee in hopes of taking home the title and a chance to advance to the district competition. Students in grades 4 through 8 are eligible for the competition. The group of spellers went through six rounds of words before a champion was declared in the event.

Jane Bates welcomed the audience and spellers on behalf of GAE; Sylvia Gaillard served as caller of the words; Nancy Mohn, Peta Murray and Susan Newman were judges for the event; others assisting were Paula Pelusi, Katherine Smithyman, Barbara Garmon, Cassie Black and Letitia Cline.

Judy Withey, curriculum coordinator for Social Studies and Language Arts, coordinated the event for the district.

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Photo 1: Cherokee County School District Spelling Bee first-place winner James Sow of Woodstock ES.
Photo 2: Second-place winner Jacob Tate of E.T. Booth MS, left, shakes hands with winner James Sow of Woodstock ES.
Photo 3: CCSD Spelling Bee second-place winner Jacob Tate of E.T. Booth MS.
Photo 4: CCSD Spelling Bee third-place winner Callie Goins of Mill Creek MS.
Photo 5: The 2016 school-level winners are photographed together at the Cherokee County School District Spelling Bee.
Photo 6: James Sow of Woodstock ES spells a word as he makes his way to winning first place.
Photo credits: Cherokee County School District