Following rounds of exciting competition at the school and area levels, 12 students have emerged as contenders for the title of Aiken County’s Scripps Spelling Bee Champion.
The county bee will be held Monday, February 1, 2021, at the Amentum Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Aiken beginning at 7:00 p.m. The event will be livestreamed by The Aiken Standard on its website and Facebook page.
Due to health and safety protocols, seating at the event will be extremely limited. Members of the community are strongly encouraged to support students by viewing the event online.
“The county spelling bee will have limited seating available with Covid-19 protocols in place, but we are looking forward to an outstanding competition,” stated Christin Sosa-Gaston, who serves as an IPS Coordinator in the department of Federal Programs and as District Spelling Bee Director for Aiken County Public Schools. “These students have worked extremely hard to be their very best on Monday night and we anticipate a terrific night of spelling competition.”
The participants in this year’s Aiken County Spelling bee represent students from fifth grade to eighth grade. Each student advanced to the county bee after winning first place or finishing in second place in six area competitions.
This year’s spelling bee participants include the following students, representing 11 schools:
- Jasper Brannen (Leavelle McCampbell Middle School)
- Serenity Butler (Clearwater Elementary School)
- Sarah Cliett (Clearwater Elementary School)
- Dorien Coleman (Jackson STEM Magnet Middle School)
- Katie Ellis (Paul Knox Middle School)
- Annabelle Harris (East Aiken School of the Arts)
- Olive Kelly (Aiken Intermediate School)
- Liam King (Kennedy Middle School)
- Mia McAdory (North Augusta Middle School)
- Emma Riede (New Ellenton Middle STEAM Magnet School)
- Lizbeth Segura Rosas (Ridge Spring-Monetta Middle School)
- Jacob Steelman (Warrenville Elementary School)
Alternates for this year’s District spelling bee will participate on stage in the absence of a competitor. This year’s spelling bee alternates include the following students:
- Jalen Aranda (Paul Knox Middle School)
- Justin Brown (New Ellenton Middle STEAM Magnet School)
- Madison Coffman (Kennedy Middle School)
- Sara Cate Greenwood (Aiken Elementary School)
- Malaya Henderson (Langley-Bath-Clearwater Middle School)
- Emma Marshall (J.D. Lever Elementary School)
Amentum, Savannah River Remediation, and The Aiken Standard are proud sponsors of the 2021 Aiken County Spelling Bee.
This winner of Monday night’s Spelling Bee will compete in the Regional Spelling Bee hosted by the Carolina Panthers that will be held at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte on March 20, 2021. The winner of the Regional Bee will advance to the National Finals this June in Maryland.
This year’s competition at the Amentum Center for the Performing Arts will begin at 7:00 p.m.
LINK TO DISTRICT PRESS RELEASE: 2021 PR SPELLING BEE PREVIEW