Sydney Ragland, a fifth-grader from West Manor Elementary, fulfilled her goal by being one of the first to win both her school and district spelling bee. Ragland has participated in spelling bees since she was in the third grade, yet wasn’t able to pull out a victory — until now. (Check out the AJC article here.)
All of those years of defeat made Ragland more determined to win her fifth grade spelling bee. She decided that her study process had to intensify to enable her to defeat her school competition. Ragland’s hard work paid off by beating her school and district competition.
“It felt great [to win the competition]. I was so astonished and I couldn’t move,” said Ragland. “I was very excited for myself and school and teachers.”
Ragland is now preparing for the regional spelling bee on Feb. 26. Her study routine includes studying a list of words provided to her; she studies 150 words a night. Her friends and mother help her study and go over the spelling bee words assuring her that she has memorized them to the best of her ability.
