East Elementary’s Talyn McClendon wins 2025 Cullman County Spelling Bee
Published 3:47 am Tuesday, February 11, 2025
Talyn McClendon reacts to winning the 2025 Cullman County Spelling Bee. Amanda Shavers | The Cullman Times
Talyn McClendon is the 2025 Cullman County Spelling Bee. Amanda Shavers | The Cullman Times
Runner up Scarlett Harbison of Fairview Middle Schools looks on as Talyn McClendon steps to the mic during the final round of the 2025 Cullman County Spelling Bee. Amanda Shavers | The Cullman Times
Talyn McClendon reacts to making the final round of the 2025 Cullman County Spelling Bee. Amanda Shavers | The Cullman Times
Bee contestants, from left, Sawyer Watwood from St. Bernard, Addington Cardin from West Point Intermediate, Zoey Canady from Good Hope Middle and Nathanial Ferrell-Devenport from Hanceville Middle wait their turns at the mic. Amanda Shavers | The Cullman Times
Holly Pond Elementary's Nettie Williams correctly spells her word to move on to the next round. Amanda Shavers | The Cullman Times
Cullman Middle Schools William Chapin correctly spells a word.
Cullman Christian School's Chasen Hampton returns to his seat after spelling a word.
Talyn McClendon is the 2025 Cullman County Spelling Bee champion. The East Elementary 6th grader was the last student standing out of 23 of the area’s top spellers.
After finishing third in the 2024 competition, McClendon brought home the 2025 title by correctly spelling “pedigree.”
“I’ve been studying … maybe since the beginning of this year, maybe during about Christmas break. … And I sometimes I even studied too much, but like just now, is the most I’ve ever studied in one day. I was studying a lot of words as much as I could,” McClendon said from the stage at Temple Baptist Church after his win.
He said he was a little nervous about moving on in the competition, but, with quizzing from mom and dad, he was going to be ready.
Amanda Shavers joined The Cullman Times in 1997 as the paper's first staff photographer. She has been News Editor since 2008. She is also Content Editor for Cullman Magazine (quarterly), Cullman County Graduation magazine, Fall in Love With Cullman magazine, Salute to Industry magazine and the Senior and Retiree Directory magazine. She is also Content Editor for the weekly St. Clair News-Aegis and she assists with the twice-weekly Athens News Courier.
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