East Fannin Elementary School’s Abishai Rittweger emerged from the tenth round of the annual Spelling Bee competition as the Fannin County School District Champion.
The event was held last Friday, January 9, at the school system district office.
Rittweger was joined in the competition by Lincoln Harriman of West Fannin who was the runner-up, Hayslee Lunsford of Blue Ridge Elementary and Joseph “Joey” Vogel of Fannin County Middle School. All four earned the right to compete at the school district level by winning the spelling bees at their respective schools.
All four spellers were neck and neck through the first five rounds of competition before anyone was eliminated. The ninth round saw Rittweger and Harriman challenging for the top spot. Rittweger spelled “fugitive” and “ramshackle” to take the title. He will now compete at the region level.