Claire Hill, a sixth grader at Armuchee Middle School, was the top speller in the Floyd County School system’s annual Spelling Bee, held on Friday, February 19, 2010, at 9:30 a.m. at the Floyd County Board of Education office on Riverside Parkway . Hill and 10 other individual school spelling champions, from schools with grades 4-8, participated in the Floyd County Schools Spelling Bee. Jacob Beard, from Garden Lakes Elementary School, was the runner-up in the competition.  

The two finalist traded positions of being disappointed at misspelling a word before Hill spelled the required two words in a row to win the competition. She patiently awaited the judges ruling on her spelling of the word “centennial” to give her a shot at the winning word.  After a short pause to confer, the judges confirmed her spelling of the word.  She then confidently stepped-up to the microphone and spelled “hysterical” to close-out the spelling competition.       

Hill put in a lot of study time to get ready to compete in the academic spell-off.   Hill said, “My mom quizzed me every night to help me study.”  She added, “It got a little annoying at times but it must have helped.”   Asked how she was going to celebrate after the win, Hill said, “I get to go back to school.” 

Claire Hill received a plaque, certificate, ribbon, and a new dictionary from the Floyd County Association of Educators, sponsor of the event, to signify her accomplishment.  The sixth-grader will represent Floyd County Schools in the District Spelling Bee to be held on Saturday, February 27 at the Floyd County Board of Education office. Jacob Beard will serve as an alternate at the District Bee.  The district competition will begin at 10:00 a.m. and will feature the top spellers from school systems in District One.