The Read Mountain Middle School school-wide spelling bee was held on Friday, January 11. Classroom winners from sixth, seventh, and eighth grade, as well as the top five scorers from each grade level met in the forum to compete for the school title. Fifty-four winning students were participants, and after over seven rounds of competition, eighth grader Tanner Hall s-p-e-l-l-e-d his way to the championship. The runner-up was sixth grader Thomas Malue. Tanner will proceed to the Botetourt county competition, where he will spell against winners from eight other county schools. The winner of that bee will continue to the regional spelling bee, sponsored by the Roanoke Times.

Participants of the spelling be are listed below:

Eighth grade: Savannah Amos, Caleb Beckner, Grayson Bond, Emily D’Arpa, Chris Fechisin, Tanner Hall (winner), Brittany Lyle, Micheal Martin, Kayla Overbay, Zach Prillaman, Austin Sarver, Anthony Skomsky, Dillon Switzer, Dylan Thompson, Taylor Treadway.

Seventh grade: Matthew Benson, Nick Brunn, Justin Bui, Haley Davis, Sage English, Nicholas Francis, Tanner Hash, Connor Hayes, Ethan Hodges, K.J. Martin, Maria Parnell, Adam Roberts, Matt Ruhlman, Sarah Slusher, Ainsley Swartwout.

Sixth grade: Zach Andrews, Jonothan Ballard, Gardner Bransom, Haley Caldwell, Krissy Fitzgerald, Parker Hepinstall, Ahston Huddleston, Thomas Malue (runner-up), Blake Markvart, Brett Meacham, Ciara Nicholson, Taylor Overstreet, Halla Roberts, Jude Roberts, Isaac Snay, Yasmine Sykes, Abby Whitlock, Drew Wiley

Pictures of participants were taken by Beth Cross and can be viewed here.

Submitted by Heather Simmons