West Fairmont Middle Schools Exavier Posey listens to the words.
By Colleen S. Good
Times West Virginian
FAIRMONT — Diablo, noun. Definition: devil. Origin: Spanish.
D-I-A-B-L-O.
Spelling the word “diablo” made East Fairmont Junior High School eighth-grader Laura May this year’s Marion County Spelling Bee for grades 5-8 champion.
May, along with the second- through fifth-place winners, will go on to compete at the RESA 7 regional spelling bee in Bridgeport this March. The winner of that competition will go on to the National Spelling Bee in Washington D.C., in May.
This isn’t May’s first county spelling bee win. She said she also won first place two years ago, when she was in sixth grade. When she went on to regionals that year, she got second place. She hopes to do even better this year, and has been hard at work preparing.
“I always study a lot for these things,” May said. “I study when I come home and on weekends.”
At East Fairmont High School Wednesday night, there were 108 students registered, representing each of the 11 schools in the county. 80 competitors ended up showing up to the competition, which started with a practice round around 5:30 p.m., and ran for two and a half hours until 8 p.m…
