By Lee Ann Sides Garrett
Salisbury PostD-I-O-R-A-M-A
Matthew Jones concentrated hard as he spelled the word. He listened for the bell that said he misspelled the word. It never rang.
Matthew was declared the winner in the Rowan County Home School Association’s 2008 Spelling Bee. The bee, held at Trinity Wesleyan Church, was sponsored by the Rowan County Home School Association. Nine children competed from six different home school academies in the Rowan County area. The association includes about 130 families and between 300 and 400 children. Eleven-year-old Matthew is the son of Larry and Fran Jones and is a fifth-grader at SL Jones Covenant Academy. Jones won the bee in the eighth round after successfully spelling “obsequious” and “diorama.”
“We’ve been practicing words,” Fran Jones said. “But not words this hard.”
Bryson Shepherd, 12, a seventh-grader at Shepherd’s Academy, placed second after being eliminated with the word “pumpernickel.” Bryson won last year’s bee.
Matthew expressed surprise that he won.
“Bryson is a seventh-grader,” he marveled.
Nine-year-old Mikaylah Haney, a fourth-grader at Alethia Academy, finished in third place and McKenzie Caster, 12, a sixth-grader at L & M Academy, took fourth place.
Matthew will attend the district level spelling bee in Winston-Salem on Feb. 23. He said he will have to study hard.
“I don’t plan on coming in last place in Winston,” he said, laughing.