One by one the contenders fell, until only Candace Griffith stood. Griffith was the winner of the Hickory Public Schools district spelling bee.
An eighth-grader at Northview Middle School, this was not her first district contest.
"I've been in the spelling bee before," Griffith said. "I got to the final four the year before."
This year, though, she made it all the way, lasting 11 rounds and going through two potential champion rounds before being crowned the winner. Her two winning words: "contiguous" and "impasse."
To be champion, a speller in the final round must spell two words correctly.
Griffith said she wasn't sure she'd spelled "impasse" correctly until the judges told her she was the winner.
In round 10, Griffith and Oakwood Elementary student Olivia Belcher fought for the title as the final two. Although Griffith spelled her word correctly — graffiti — Belcher did not. However, Griffith did not spell her second word, "hacienda," correctly, sending the two students back for another round.
"I thought, 'I can always go again,'" Griffith said.
It was during the next round that she won.
Griffith said she studied much harder for this year's bee than she has in years past.
"I had the words called out to me," she said.
Griffith plans to study even harder for the regional spelling bee in Charlotte, employing the same studying technique.
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