By JOYANNA LOVE/ Senior Staff Writer

Maplesville High School Spelling Bee winner Allie Hand out spelled 33 other students from second through sixth grade to secure a spot in the countywide spelling competition.

Hand correctly spelled the word bulletin to win the competition. She said it felt “amazing” to win.

“I did it last year, and I came in third, so I wanted to see if I could win it,” Hand, a sixth-grade student said.

She plans to “study, study, study” in preparation for the countywide bee.

Second-grade student Jadyn Smitherman finished in second place and will be the school’s alternate for the county-level competition, if Hand is not able to compete.

“We get a 100 in English on our report card for participating, so that’s why I wanted to participate,” Smitherman said.

Second-grade teacher Gina Riley said this was the first time second grade has competed in the bee.

Teacher Patricia Campbell gave each student their word as another teacher listened to the spelling to ensure it was correct.

After eight rounds, two spellers remained.

Some words that gave the students trouble were as follows: here, coin, aid, intersect, manure, tonic, handiwork, oval, lazily and faucet. Students were given the definition of the word when it could be confused with a similar sounding word.

Students who misspelled a word sat down to watch the remainder of the bee. In the event that all of the students in one round misspelled their words, then all of these students would have a second chance in the next round. This was never the case during the MHS bee.

The county level spelling bee will be held on Feb. 2 at 8:30 a.m. at LeCroy Career Technical Center.