Spelling Bee Winners Advance to Region Bee

“Apostrophe” was the winning word for an E.T. Booth Middle School student at the 2026 Cherokee County School District Spelling Bee!

Eighth-grader Miller Inthirathvongsy placed first in the competition held this week at Cherokee High School.  Arnold Mill ES fourth-grader Vanya Singh earned second place; Sixes ES fifth-grader Griffin Mincey, third place; and Oak Grove ES STEAM Academy fourth-grader Mac Wells, fourth place.  All four students now advance to the Region Bee on Feb. 28.  State winners advance to the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C. in June. 

School winners from elementary and middle schools districtwide put their spelling skills to the test in the annual competition, which is sponsored by Cherokee County Association of Educators and the Georgia Association of Educators.  Bekki Couch is the GAE Spelling Bee Coordinator; Joy Silk, CCSD director of teaching and learning, served as caller of the words.  Judges included Tiffany Robbins, Bekki Couch and Jennifer Campbell.

Congratulations to our students and their teachers, thank you to our partners, and thank you to our School Board for its laser focus on ensuring our students are learning more, growing more, and achieving more in our classrooms than they could anywhere else!

CCSD 2025-26 School Spelling Bee Winners

Arnold Mill ES: Vanya Singh

Avery ES: Aarish Nayak

Ball Ground ES STEM Academy: Easton McClead

Bascomb ES: Wilder Johnson

Boston ES: Daris Ocasio

Carmel ES: AJ Owens

Clark Creek ES STEM Academy: Mackenzie Ross

Clayton ES: Lora Capo

Creekland MS: Preston Reiter

Dean Rusk MS: Shri Vardhan 

E.T. Booth MS: Miller Inthirathvongsy           

Free Home ES: Katie Ilcuk     

Freedom MS: Ethan Ha          

Hasty ES Fine Arts Academy: Karthikeyan Ramakrishnan     

Hickory Flat ES: Sebastian Schels      

Holly Springs ES STEM Academy: Logan Royal         

Indian Knoll ES: Aiden Nguyen          

Johnston ES: Akris Srivastava

Knox ES STEM Academy: Lachlan Shell        

Liberty ES: Russell Roderick   

Little River ES: Jordan Fitzgerald       

Macedonia ES: Taylor Turner

Mill Creek MS: Mira Tulasi     

Mountain Road ES: Ollie Aubuchon   

Oak Grove ES STEAM Academy: Mac Wells 

RM Moore ES STEM Academy: Ava Bailey   

Sixes ES: Griffin Mincey         

Teasley MS: Reece Pruett      

Woodstock ES: Raghav Madhavan    

Woodstock MS: Evelyn Higginbotham           

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