Spellcasting

Eastside 5th grader wins Polk schools spelling bee

Piper Ozment had to hear the word twice, but when she began spelling it she didn’t hesitate.

The Eastside Elementary fifth grader had seen the word “quantify” before and, with the affirmation from caller Sherry Foster, Ozment won the 2022 Polk School District Spelling Bee.

The top spellers from each of Polk County’s elementary and middle schools gathered at the Polk County College and Career Academy on the campus of Cedartown High School on Wednesday, Jan. 26, to compete in the district-wide event sponsored by the Polk County Rotary Club.

Ozment, who won Eastside’s schoolwide spelling bee early this year, said she hadn’t thought about being a good speller before winning the school competition.

“I’ve just been studying the book that they gave me with a bunch of words in it. I’ve just been doing that a good bit. And I think that’s helped me because I’ve seen some words that were in the book being called out here. And I think that it really helped me a lot,” Ozment said.

Ozment and Westside Elementary spelling bee winner Marley English were the final two competitors in the district-wide competition after five rounds and went head to head.

After 11 pairs of words, English tripped up while spelling “whirlybird” to give Ozment a chance to win by spelling two words correctly. She spelled “demolition” and then asked Foster to repeat “quantify” before spelling it correctly and winning the event.

Ozment later said she had seen both of the final words in the book she had been studying.

“I was quivering up there,” she told her mom, Ashley Ozment, after

receiving her award. Her father is Benjamin Ozment.

Both finalists spelled several words correctly, including mosquito, obsolete, emperor, fructose, and tabulate.

Piper Ozment will now advance to the Georgia Association of Educators Region 1 Spelling Bee, which will be held virtually on Feb. 26. She will also receive a $50 gift card from the Polk County Rotary Club.

“I think that I have a pretty good chance of winning, but there’s gonna be more, like, bigger kids, and probably harder, bigger words,” Ozment said. “So I’m just sort of nervous about that already. And I hope that I just do good.”

Her parents and Eastside media specialist Erin Ball will help her prepare.

Jeremy stewart Westside Elementary spelling bee winner Marley English thinks while standing at the microphone during a pause in the competition at the Polk School District Spelling Bee on Wednesday, Jan. 26.

Jeremy stewart Piper Ozment laughs while her mother, Ashley Ozment, takes her picture after winning the Polk School District Spelling Bee on Wednesday, Jan. 26. Ozment is a fifth-grade student at Eastside Elementary in Rockmart.