Allen wins County Spelling Bee

"Tranquil ‘T.R.A.N.Q.U.I.L’ Tranquil,” he spelled. “Ladies and Gentlemen, we have a winner,” said Dr. Dorrie Powell, Gear-Up Site Coordinator and Pronouncer for the 2016 Hardeman County Spelling Bee.
Twenty students from Hardeman County Schools competed in the annual Bee held on Monday, Jan. 25 at Bolivar Central High School. From ‘iguana” to ‘incorruptible’ and through many words in between, the county finalists spelled and sometimes misspelled until only one, Jace Allen, remained mistake free. A fifth grade pupil at Hornsby Elementary School, he was deadlocked with Bolivar Middle School sixth grader, Tamira Prather, through several successful rounds. Ultimately, Prather misspelled “sustainable”.  This allowed Allen the opportunity to correctly spell the final word and become the Hardeman County Champion for 2016. Jace is the son of Jeremy and Juliette Allen.
Warner Ross, Director of Schools, welcomed the contestants. “I congratulate you on becoming a finalist in this year’s Bee. Spelling, unlike grammar and punctuation, has few actual hard and fast rules. It required a lot of hard study to get here tonight. In addition to spelling, this requires public speaking, which most Americans agree, is one of their greatest fears. Public speaking and spelling combined makes this doubly hard. Again, I congratulate you on your achievement and I wish you all good luck tonight.”

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