VAN BUREN, Ark. — Van Buren hosted the Crawford County Spelling Bee on Saturday morning, with kids from schools all across the county participating.
At the end of the bee, 5th grader Arianna Kelly from James R. Tate Elementary took the win.
"I was very nervous, and it feels unreal because I only had actually four days to study about 15 hours a day of studying," Arianna said about winning the bee.
But all that studying paid off as she will now head to Little Rock for the state competition in March.
"I am beyond excited I am spellbound; I have no words," she said.
Starting the day, Arianna says she felt like she only had about a 40 percent chance to win. But once she got her number, that percentage went up.
"I said if I got any seven in my number, which I ended up getting 27, I may have a bigger chance of winning, so I'd say about six out of 10," Arianna said.
Arianna's father, David Kelly, has been with her through everything and he was beyond proud of how his daughter performed.
"I was really proud of my daughter. She has come a long way. She's a very, very smart young lady, and I think she's gonna go pretty far in life. But she is outstanding," David said.
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