Lamar County, Starkville students place one-two in spelling bee

JACKSON, Miss. (WTOK) – Yolanda Ni is the winner of the 2019 Mississippi Spelling Bee. Ni is an eighth-grade student at Oak Grove Middle School in the Lamar County School District. She spelled the word “apothecary” for the win.

Ni, who was competing for the fourth time in the state bee, will compete for a chance to become the nation’s top speller during the 92nd Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C. in May. The winner of the national competition will emerge from a pool of 11 million spelling bee participants.

The first runner-up was Soyeon Park, an eighth-grade student at Armstrong Middle School in the Starkville Oktibbeha School District. Park won the 2017 Mississippi Spelling Bee.

The event was sponsored by the Mississippi Association of Educators.