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Fifteen of the 16 individual school winners of spelling bees at elementary and middle schools competed Thursday at the 2023 Stanly County Schools Spelling Bee.

The winner was Stanfield fourth-grader Stella Brown, whose correct spelling of the word “intubated” earned her the championship.

Brown finished runner-up in last year’s bee and said coming that close last year was motivation for her to come back and compete.

The fourth grader said she was “really, really happy” about winning the bee. Regarding the winning word, she said, “I remembered it from studying, but I asked for the definition just to make sure.”

Brown and North Stanly Middle seventh-grader Rileigh Morton were the last two remaining contestants after six rounds of competition. Brown spelled “reenactment” correctly while Morton missed on “crevices,” which allowed the Stanfield fourth-grader to spell “intubated” for the win.

Brown’s father, Sean, said he was very proud of his daughter and said she put “many, many hours” into studying for the bee. His daughter, he added, was the youngest child at last year’s bee when she finished as runner-up.

Other SCS school spelling bee winners included: Kemari Thomas (Albemarle Middle), Tate Whitley (Aquadale), Hank Nelson (Badin), Skylar Johnson (Central), Graci Lewis (East Albemarle), Corbin Sikes (Endy), Willow McCorrister Chastain (Locust), Cooper Bost (Millingport), Emily Thompson (Norwood), Brennan Yow (Oakboro Choice STEM Elementary), Mame Guisse (Oakboro Choice STEM Middle), Bailey Tucker (Richfield), Iyanna Ballard (South Stanly Middle) and Bryson Beechy (West Stanly Middle).