R-A-M-I-F-I-C-A-T-I-O-N.

With that word, Alaina Lighsety was crowned the county school spelling bee champion.

The Lauderdale County School District named Lighsety its new spelling bee champion Thursday at Meridian Little Theater.

A West Lauderdale Middle School eighth-grader, Lightsey out-spelled the competition, and after 13 rounds of intense spelling, Lightsey brought home the trophy with a champion-level word: Ramification.

“I really didn’t expect to win because I didn’t get the chance to study like I wanted to,” Lightsey said. “Whenever it was time for me to step forward, I just prayed to God for an easy word and to not let me get too confused.”

The annual spelling bee brought the 50 top spellers from around Lauderdale County together to compete for the top spot and a chance to compete in the 2023 Mississippi Spelling Bee on March 3 and 4 in Columbus.

Lightsey went head-to-head for six rounds with the second and third-place winners, West Lauderdale Middle Noah McCaffrey and Northeast Middle Ananya Mantri, who won the spelling bee last year.

Reese Ann Gressett, a sixth grader at Russell Christian Academy, was the youngest competitor in the top four to bring home the fourth-place trophy.

Lightsey said there isn’t an easy strategy to get prepared for a spelling tournament. The best tool for her was to highlight the words she didn’t know and conduct a lot of research to help her remember the word.

Lightsey will compete in the state spelling bee in Columbus, and the state bee winner will advance to the Scripps National Spelling Bee for a chance to be crowned the best speller in the country.

“I am definitely competitive, but regardless I feel like it’s a really great opportunity, and I’m just really excited to be going,” she added.