MOUNT VERNON – Three students from Mount Vernon Middle School are headed to the 2023 Knox County Spelling Bee next month.
Sixth-grader Naomi McFarlane, seventh-grader Noah Corrigan and eighth-grader Jonathan Green won their recent grade-level competitions.
Middle school bees also are being held this month at Centerburg, Danville, East Knox and Fredericktown.
Seventh- and eighth-grade winners from those schools also will participate in the Knox County bee on Jan. 12 in the Mount Vernon Middle School library. The 7 p.m. program will be open to the public.
The Knox Educational Service Center facilitates the Knox County bee and the school bees leading up to it. Taylor Gingery, gifted and talented coordinator for the ESC, coordinates the bees and serves as the pronouncer.
The Mount Vernon Rotary Club, through the Rotary Foundation, provides financial support for the Knox County bee each year for trophies, certificates, participant T-shirts and refreshments.
At Mount Vernon, McFarlane emerged as the sixth-grade winner in the 10th round by correctly spelling “chemotherapy.”
It took a whopping 27 rounds before Corrigan spelled “contentious” to win the seventh-grade competition.
Green took the eighth-grade title after only four rounds by spelling “crevices.”
