SAFFORD — Elsie Barney wasted no time in locking down the 2025 Graham County Spelling Bee title.
After the seventh round of the Bee Wednesday at the Graham County General Services Building, Barney and Sophia Paull found themselves the final two contestants.
In the ninth round, Paull missed on the word “composite,” which gave Barney the chance she needed. She correctly spelled composite and then spelled “fervently” to take the victory.
“I was thinking, ‘I got this. I just hope the next word is . . . like the same level as this one,’ ” Barney said.
– David Bell Photo/Gila Valley Central
Three of the final four spellers at Wednesday’s local Spelling Bee hail from Pima — Barney and Tell Richardson from Pima Jr. High, and Paull from Discovery Plus Academy — with Payton Rope from Fort Thomas Elementary the fourth.
“Pima’s great,” said Brian Paull, Pima’s mayor and father of Sophia. “I recommend the schooling; I can’t say anything bad about it.”
Half of the 18 contestant were knocked out in the first two rounds, with one or two spellers knocked out in rounds three through seven.
The Spelling Bee is overseen by the Graham County School Superintendent’s Office, and 2025 marks Superintendent Donna McGaughey’s 20th year running the bee. It’s also her 30th year helping the bee, assisting her predecessor when the bee was held in the sub-basement of the Graham County Courthouse.
“We had the Boy Scouts come in with the flags, and it was a little more pomp and circumstance,” McGaughey said. “As the years went by, it was harder and harder to get that going. So now we’re basically the same format, it’s just the location was odd when I look back on it.”
Barney now advances to the Arizona State Spelling Bee, March 15, at the Madison Center for the Arts in Phoenix. The winner at the Arizona State Spelling Bee will compete in the Scripps National Spelling Bee May 27-29.
