(MARSHALL) – The team of Mara Hartsell, Glena Lowe and Alan Towery represented Texas State Technical College in Marshall and won the Marshall – Harrison County Literacy Council’s Spelling Bee held Friday, Sept. 11 at First United Methodist Church in Marshall.

The team won by spelling “credibility” correctly.

“I was actually in it last year so I had studied the word list they gave out then as well as the list for this year,” said Towery, an instructor of Internet Technology Studies. “The winning word was spelled by Mara Hartsell (success coach) who was a last minute replacement for Patty Lopez. We also had to spell the word the other team that was left misspelled, which was ‘esophagus’ which I spelled.”

Teams represented 14 area school districts, companies, colleges and media outlets.

“The spelling bee was totally awesome,” said Lowe, coordinator of workforce training and continuing education in Marshall. “I had a great time meeting other competitors from Harrison County.”

The spelling event is the literacy council’s only fundraising event and raises money providing free adult education to county residents. Organization staff work with clients in reading, writing, mathematics, English as a Second Language and pre-GED instruction.

“It raises about a fourth of our annual operating budget, so it’s success largely determines how many people we can serve during the year,” said Karla DeLuca, the literacy council’s executive director.

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