It’s time for spellers to take their mark because the Marion County Spelling Bee is just around the corner.
The event will take place Thursday, Feb. 20 in the Browne Greaton Cole Auditorium at Marion Technical Institute (MTI) at 6 p.m. MTI is located at 1614 E. Fort King Street in Ocala. Admission is free and open to the public.
This year’s competition will include 22 middle school students from one private and 10 public Marion County middle schools. Chancellor of Public Schools Jacob Oliva, from the Florida Department of Education, will serve as this year’s word-caller.
The event is sponsored by the GFWC Woman’s Club of Ocala, which supplies judges, medals and travel funds for the top two winners. The Little Women Juniorettes will provide the invocation and lead the Pledge of Allegiance.
The local winner and runner-up advance to the 61st annual regional spelling bee in Orlando on March 18. Both the district and regional bees are preliminary rounds to reach this year’s Scripps National Spelling “Bee Week” at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in National Harbor, Md., on May 24-29. Final rounds typically are televised nationwide.
For more information, contact Mark Ingram at (352) 236.0593 or mark.ingram@marion.k12.fl.us. Additional information is available at www.spellingbee.com.