Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Jessica Jones County's Top Speller

The Nevada County Spelling Bee was held at Nevada Public Schools on February 25.

Jessica Jones was the overall winner. Second place went to Kirbi Tye.

The participating schools were Emmet, Prescott and Nevada. The students who competed were in the fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth grades.

The event began with a welcome by Pat Bingham, Nevada County Spelling Bee coordinator.

The pronouncers for the grade level contests were Wayne Porter, Linda Carlew, Noel Brewster and Pat Loe. The overall pronouncer was Linda Lively.

Pat Stewart, Sherry Schmitt, Anna Atkins and Shelia Jennings were judges for the grade level contests. Ron Jennings, Kelly Jones and Kay King were overall judges.

The ninth graders who were assistants during the competition were Melissa Niemeyer, Kayla Rhodes, Lacey Pipkin, Jessica Carey, Melanie Williams and Jessica Miller. These students took the grade level contestants to their competition rooms.

The fifth graders who competed were Brittany Daniel, Jessica Jones, Lenora Leisure, Whitney Loudermilk, Haley Muldrow, Zach Niemeyer, Madeline Taylor, Jessica Trevillion and Coy Tucker.

Jessica Almand, Alie Biddle, Kendrick Fore, Jeffery Fort, Ashley Hodges, Christ Hunt, Johnathon Korenek, Cristi Lambert, and Craig Teague were the sixth graders who competed.

The seventh graders who were in competition were Rick Gober, Jenifer Harding, Aaron Jennings, Courtney Pulliam, Tonya Reeves and Kirbi Tye.

The eighth graders who competed were Brittany Bailey, Addam Esada, Lee harris, Mistie Holley, Britnie McCauley, Ronetha Pearson, Timmy Potts and Joey Wyman.

The second place and third place ribbons were given after the grade level competition by the judges.

Second place winners were Lenora Leisure, Joey Wyman, Ronetha Pearson, Jenifer Harding and Jessica Almand.

Third place winners were Zach Niemeyer, Jonathon Wish, Timmy Potts, Cristi Lambert and Ashley Hodges.

After the grade level competitions the students went to the cafetorium for refreshments. The foreign exchange students who attend Nevada School visited with the students and answered questions about themselves and their country. Those present were Ursual Berger of Brazel, Oat Phanphanit of Thailand, Martha Portillo of Mexico, Javier Martinez of Spain and Alejanoro Montanez of Argentina. Fabio Xavier of Brazil was unable to attend.

Lively let the students draw names for their position, introduced each first place winner, and reviewed the rules before the final competition began.

First place contestants were Jessica Jones, Alie Biddle, Kirbi Tye and Brittany Bailey. The first place winner for the county championship was Jessica Jones and the second place winner of the county was Kirbi Tye.

After the final spell off, Rick McAfee, superintendent of Nevada Schools, recognized the grade level winners. The first place grade level winners were ask to come to the stage to receive their trophies.

Jim Franks, vice president of the Bank of Prescott, presented Jones and Tye with their trophies and certificates. The Bank of Prescott donated a $100 savings account for the champion speller and a $50 savings account for the runner-up.

Citizens National Bank of Hope donated the trophies and the ribbons. Refreshments were donated by Borden Milk Company, City Baker of Hope, and parents of the Nevada spellers.