The correct spelling of the word "cumbersome" clinched the

Fayette County Spelling Bee for Mohua Basu, a seventh

grader from J.C. Booth Middle School. The competition ended

when Kanad Khanna of Spring Hill Elementary missed the word

"allegro" and Basu correctly spelled two

words in a row. This is in accordance with the contest rules.

The county-wide spelling competition pitted the top speller

from each elementary and middle school against one another in

an hour-an-a-half match which had spectators on the edge of

their seats. Some contestants like Basu reeled off the letters

with confidence; others grimaced, hesitated and

paced themselves carefully.

This was Basu's second appearance at the Bee. Two

years ago she represented Huddleston Elementary as their top

speller. As this year's winner, she will compete

next month at the district level in Douglasville

Robert J. Burch Elementary in Tyrone hosted the

competition, which was sponsored by the Fayette County Association of

Educators. Participants included Andrew Ash, Braelinn

Elementary; Corey Cross, Brooks Elementary; Megan Tiffany,

East Fayette Elementary; Ryan Lamont, Fayetteville Elementary

Intermediate; Nicholas Luciano, Huddleston Elementary; Christina

Bianco, Kedron Elementary;

Lance Bowman, North Fayette Elementary; Lyndsi Tufte,

Oak Grove Elementary; Jaclyn Coxwell, Peachtree City

Elementary; Robert Burbage, Peeples Elementary; Michael Toney,

Robert J. Burch Elementary; Kanad Khanna, Spring

Hill Elementary;

Charli Eason, Tyrone Elementary; Mohua Basu, J.C.

Booth Middle School; Katherine Middlebrooks, Fayette

Middle; Jessica Merrill, Flat Rock Middle; Dustin Hipp, Rising Starr

Middle; and Whitney Vail, Whitewater Middle.

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