Third-grader Charlie McCain won the West Marion Primary Spelling Bee Friday morning and is one of three students from the school advancing to the County Spelling Bee against three students from Columbia Primary School after Thanksgiving.
McCain was followed by fellow third-grader Mary Elliott Anderson and fourth-grader Kaiden Martin. Martin had a tough draw that led to his elimination as he was asked to spell “whee,” which stumped many of the adults in the room as well.
West Marion Primary’s top-3 spellers are, from left, Kaiden Martin, Charlie McCain and Mary Elliott Anderson.
West Marion Primary held spelling bees in each of its classes from first through fourth grade, and the top-3 from each class advanced to the schoolwide competition.
McCain said she was very excited about winning the spelling bee, which was evident in her reaction as she jumped up and down on the stage and tried to hide her big smile with her hands. Her intelligence shined as well as she described the difficulty of the competition.
“Maybe, a bit, but not really though,” she said about whether it was hard. “I don’t remember what I spelled, but it was really easy — kind of.”
McCain’s winning word was “sandwich,” which was a breeze for her.
“Easy, very. I’ve been knowing how to spell sandwich for years,” she said.
There are no other schools in West Marion’s district that participate in the Scripps National Spelling Bee competition, so the top-3 automatically advance to the County Spelling Bee to face Columbia’s top-3.
Columbia Primary School is holding its classroom spelling bees this week, and the school spelling bee will be after Thanksgiving. The County Spelling Bee has not yet been scheduled.
The top speller in the county will advance to state where they will have to compete with students from first through eighth grade.
