Brooke Lyons, a sixth-grade student at LCMS, won the system-level competition in the 2006 Scripps National Spelling Bee.

Lyons is the daughter of Robin and Gene Sutton of Lincolnton and Keith Lyons of Harlem.

Chris Jones, an eighth-grader at the middle school, captured second place, and Hattie Collins, another eighthgrader, took third-place honors in the spelling competition which was held recently in the media center at LCMS/ LCHS.

Lyons will go on to compete in the region spelling bee which will take place Saturday, March 11, at the offices of The Augusta Chronicle in Augusta. Jones will serve as the alternate for the competition.

Also participating in the systemlevel spelling bee were Mitchell Beale, Savannah Barnett, Tyler Tutt, Bentley Beggs, Jalen Franklin, Ashley Asbell, Deanne Hearst, Quadarious Hunter, Tyrell Phelps, William Lockhart, Chelsea Davis, Connor Eades, Catherine Crookham, D.J. Tapley, Robnicka Searles, Raven Johnson, Jasmine Freeman, BreAunna Gladmon, Rebecca Byrd, Tequila Bussey, and Luke Watson.

Among the words called out for the young scholars to spell were constant, cubic, noble, knowingly, hangnail, siesta, highwayman, brownstone, ultramarine, indigo, flora, museum, ornament, drapery, elegant, nosegay, courtyard, casement, infrequently, defer, subsequent, momentary, commencement, piecemeal, curfew, tonsil, thyroid, platelet, ligament, nucleus, superlative, reindeer, shriek, deserter, torpedo, skirmish, octave, administer, colonial, substitute, handicap, neutralize, chronicles, barricade, arsenic, renegade, and remand.

The winning words were premeditation and amnesty.

Susan Pilgrim, a seventh-grade language arts teacher at LCMS who also serves as the spelling bee coordinator, was the caller for the event. The judges were Ellen Butler, LCHS counselor; Carol Norman, a language arts teacher at LCMS; and Nancy Jones, assistant principal at LCES.

"I'm very proud of all of the students who participated in the spelling bee," stated Pilgrim. "I'm especially proud of the way they behaved and how supportive they were of each other."

She went on to say that she appreciates everyone who helped make the event a success.

Following the bee, all of the participants were treated to ice cream by LCMS.

The National Spelling Bee was instituted in 1925 by the Louisville Courier Journal in Louisville, Kentucky. Nine students took part in the first national finals, and the winning word was gladiolus.

Scripps acquired the rights to the program in 1941.

This year, more than 10 million students at the local level and over 265 national finalists will be involved in the Scripps National Spelling Bee.