BY CLIFF SMELLEY
Bradford Middle School eighth-grader Nathaniel Lilly didn’t have to make an apology — he just needed to be able to spell it.
Spell it, he did, which resulted him being the champion of the Bradford County School District Spelling Bee, which was held Jan. 30 at the Bradford County School District boardroom.
It was quite the battle between Lilly and runner-up Jayden Goodman, a sixth-grader at Starke Elementary School. After everyone else was eliminated, the two went head-to-head for nine rounds before Lilly earned the win and a chance to compete in the 81st annual First Coast Regional Spelling Championship on Friday, March 7, at Jacksonville’s LaVilla School of the Arts.
The Bradford County Education Foundation, which sponsors the district spelling bee as well as the spelling bees at each individual school, will cover the cost for Lilly and his family to attend the First Coast Regional Spelling Championship.
Winning the First Coast Regional Spelling Championship earns a student the right to compete at Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C.
Bradford County Education Foundation members Cheryl Canova (president), Vorease Jones (secretary) and Lila Sellars (vice president) served as judges at the Bradford School District bee, which consisted of 12 students who placed in the top three at spelling bees at their schools. School-level bee results were:
—Bradford Elementary: champion Jacianna Brown (fifth grade), runner-up Branton Clements (sixth grade) and second runner-up Audrina Johnson (fifth grade).
—Bradford Middle: champion Aashna Patel (eighth grade), runner-up Lilly and second runner-up Marie Karinen (seventh grade).
—Lawtey Elementary: champion Logan Scarberry (fifth grade), runner-up Jaxon Castellese (sixth grade) and second runner-up Dava Devore (fifth grade).
—Starke Elementary: champion Emma Atkins (sixth grade), runner-up Londyn Harris (fifth grade) and second runner-up Goodman.
Atkins and Castellese also competed in last year’s district bee, with Castellese winning it.
After receiving the rules from pronouncer Troy Appling, participants got to do a practice round before starting the district bee in earnest. Atkins, Brown, Castelllese, Clements, Devore, Goodman, Harris, Lilly, Patel and Scarberry all advanced past the first two rounds, with Atkins, Brown, Castelllese, Devore, Goodman, Harris, Lilly, Patel and Scarberry all getting to round four.
Round five consisted of Atkins, Brown, Castellese, Goodman, Harris, Lilly, Patel and Scarberry, with Castellese, Goodman, Harris and Lilly moving onto round six.
All four successfully made it to round seven, but by round eight, it was down to Goodman and Lilly.
Up to that point, Goodman had successfully spelled the following words: “hopscotch,” “hurricane,” “gargoyles,” “straightforward,” “hurly burly,” “artificial” and “barista.” Lilly spelled “Wednesday,” “ointment,” “onyx,” “feisty,” “karma,” “rancid” and “algebraic.”
With the bee down to two, a student had to spell two words correctly after an opponent’s misspelling to win. Otherwise, the bee kept going.
Goodman and Lilly both misspelled their words in round eight, which led to round nine. Lilly put himself in position to win in round nine by successfully spelling “Louis d’or,” but he misspelled his next word.
Next came four straight rounds in which both students correctly spelled every word. Goodman spelled “blink,” “sword,” “delta” and “abolish,” while Lilly spelled “cactus,” “bleat,” “onion” and “literally.”
Each student misspelled his word in round 14, but they were both successful in round 15, with Goodman spelling “bristle” and Lilly spelling “carriage.”
In round 16, Lilly successfully spelled “gaggle,” setting up his win by spelling “apology.”
Lilly and Goodman were each presented with trophies, while all participants received gift bags.
Trophies and gift bags were provided by the Bradford County Education Foundation.
The Bradford County Education Foundation is a nonprofit organization that was established in 1990 by citizens to support the county’s schools. It consists solely of volunteers.
Besides Canova, Jones and Sellars, the foundation consists of Treasurer Matt Dyal, Superintendent of Schools Will Hartley, Angel Autry, Christina Cornwell, Sheryl Dixon, Brenda Donaldson, Sarah Long, Paula Register, Leisa Sims, Chrissy Thompson, Brenda Thornton, Eugenia Whitehead, John Williams and John Miller (emeritus).
