FEBRUARY 25, 2010 ISSUE
Cameron Hastings Wins 2010 Watauga County Schools Spelling Bee
Watauga County Schools Spelling Bee winners (left to right): Chris Pope, Zebulon Smith, Phillip Goetz, Brittany Stanton, Willis Ellis, Haleigh Wallace, Cameron Hastings and Anna Phillips.Valle Crucis sixth grader Cameron Hastings won the Watauga County Schools Spelling Bee for 2010. Having also won the event in 2009, Hastings has achieved the rare feat of repeating as the school system’s champion speller. She will now go on to compete in the Regional Spelling Bee in Winston-Salem next month.
Seventh grader Haleigh Wallace of Green Valley was runner-up in this year’s Spelling Bee. The individual school winners participating in the 2010 Spelling Bee also included 6th grader Anna Phillips of Bethel, 6th grader Willis Ellis of Blowing Rock, 8th grader Brittany Stanton of Cove Creek, 7th grader Phillip Goetz of Hardin Park, 7th grader Zebulon Smith of Mabel and 8th grader Chris Pope of Parkway. Phillip Goetz has now won the Spelling Bee four times at Hardin Park, the district’s largest pre-kindergarten through 8th grade school. Each school winner advanced to the countywide Spelling Bee after winning in competition with classroom winners at their school.
This year’s competition covered 11 rounds, starting with “cotton” and ending with “hysterical” as the final word in the event.
In his welcoming remarks, Superintendent Dr. Marty Hemric said, “We are proud of each and every one of our students in this year’s Bee.” Dr. Hemric thanked the school coordinators who organized the spelling bees at each school, along with Curriculum Coordinator Meredith Jones and Administrative Assistant Angela Hampton who worked to coordinate the Watauga County Schools (WCS) Spelling Bee in the central office.
Hemric also recognized the contributions of the sponsors of the Spelling Bee. “We have great partnerships in the Watauga County Schools and we’re very grateful for that,” said Hemric. This year, the Watauga County Schools Spelling Bee enjoyed the support of ASU, Backyard Burgers, the Boone Area Chamber of Commerce, Chick-fil-A, Domino’s Pizza, Hardee’s, the Hickory Crawdads, High Country Bank, Marble Slab Creamery, the Mast Store Candy Barrel, Sqrambled Scuares Game Show, Tweetsie Railroad and Wendy’s. These sponsors made it possible for each classroom winner and runner up to be recognized with prizes, with the school winners and the county champion receiving additional rewards.
Buzz Berry of Sqrambled Scuares/BZB Productions donated his time to pronounce the words for the Spelling Bee. Watauga County Schools Board of Education member Deborah Miller, Ginny Campbell of the Boone Area Chamber of Commerce and Hardin Park Media Specialist Amy Hiatt contributed their time to serve as judges for the event.
The tradition of the Watauga County Schools Spelling Bee extends back to at least 1960.
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