Morganton, NC – Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2022
A student from Heritage Middle School was named winner of the Burke County Public Schools Spelling Bee on Monday evening. Madelyn H, after seven rounds, won the bee by spelling the word “pasteurize”. The event was held at Patton High School with each elementary and middle school bringing their individual school winner to compete.
Through the first few rounds, many of the contestants held onto their spots in the competition, but into the sixth round there were only four students left on stage. After words like “tremendous,” “hippopotamus” and “exorbitant” were spelled, Hudson came out as the winner. The Lillian Butler trophy will be housed at Heritage Middle School for the next year. Lillian Butler, who the trophy was named after, served as the chief judge for the BCPS Spelling Bee for many years.
Thaniel P. from George Hildebrand Elementary and Sullivan Z. from Mull Elementary were co-runners up.
Madelyn credits the win to her love of reading and having her parents and little brother, William, call out words to her to spell. Now the pressure is on for William, who is in the second grade at Valdese Elementary, to follow in his sister’s footsteps in the next few years.
BCPS Superintendent Mike Swan said, “Each student should be very proud of themselves for making it to the district level. I know each of you have been studying hard and have teachers and parents who have helped you along the way. Congratulations to Madelyn, Thaniel, Sullivan and all the students who were representing their schools. I challenge you all to keep up the good work as you continue your education with BCPS!”