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By Carey Reeder | Managing Editor

Nine students from across Chilton County competed in the 2025 Chilton County Spelling Bee on Feb. 14, and Janie Robinson from Verbena Elementary School was crowned the champion. The spelling bee was held at LeCroy Career Technical Center between the spelling bee winners from schools across Chilton County.

Nicole Hoffman, organizer of the spelling bee, welcomed everyone to the event and thanked the students, their parents and their teachers for their hard work to get them there. Hoffman went over the rules of the spelling bee for the crowd and the competitors — competitors must say the word first, spell the word and say the word again for it to qualify as a correct spelling. The spellers could ask the judge for the origin, a different pronunciation, the word to be used in a sentence and other things associated with the word to assist them in the spelling.

Once the bee started, the words started out simple and got progressively harder. By the fifth round, five competitors had bowed out leaving Ellison Ferguson, Janie Robinson, Leilany Vera and Will Weiss to battle it out amongst the four of them. Three rounds went by with each student spelling their words correctly before Vera went out in the eighth round. Ferguson went out in the ninth round, and that left Robinson and Weiss. Weiss got his opportunity in the ninth round, but misspelled his word, and that left Robinson one word away from the title — respiratory.

“I procrastinated and waited till the last day to study, please do not tell my grandma that,” Robinson said. “The nerves were good, hands were shaking … I part words in my head to spell, so ‘Res’, then ‘pir’ and then ‘atroy.’”

Robinson spelled the word correctly and won the spelling bee in the ninth round. She said her mom was good at spelling in school and believes she has the same gift. Robinson moves on to the Alabama State Spelling Bee on March 22 at The University of Alabama at Birmingham.

 

2025 Chilton County Spelling Bee Competitors

Owen Easterling, Jemison Intermediate School

Ellison Ferguson, Clanton Intermediate School

Camdyn Gray, Maplesville High School (3rd-5th Grade)

Faith Havelka, Verbena High School (6th-8th Grade)

Lilya McDonald, Maplesville High School (6th-8th Grade)

Janie Robinson, Verbena High School (3rd-5th Grade)

Leilany Vera, Isabella High School (6th-8th Grade)

Will Weiss, Isabella High School (3rd-5th Grade)

McKenzie Whitten, Clanton Middle School