SEB Middle 6th-grader retains spelling title

Eric Lim captures Bulloch bee in marathon contest

Southeast Bulloch Middle School sixth grader Eric Lim, 11, carefully considers his next letter as he spells out the word "mukhtar" to win the Bulloch County Schools Spelling Bee Monday at Statesboro High School. Lim successfully defended his title from last year after going several one-on-one rounds with runner-up Elikem Gato of Brooklet Elementary School.

W 020617 SPELLING BEE — Southeast Bulloch Middle School sixth grader Eric Lim, 11, carefully considers his next letter as he spells out the word "mukhtar" to win the Bulloch County Schools Spelling Bee Monday at Statesboro High School. Lim successfully defended his title from last year after going several one-on-one rounds with runner-up Elikem Gato of Brooklet Elementary School.

Following a marathon, 28-round final battle, Eric Lim correctly spelled “fraulein” and “mukhtar” to earn the title of Bulloch County Spelling Bee champion for the second consecutive year. A sixth-grade student at Southeast Bulloch Middle School, Lim was one of 13 participating contestants from Bulloch County’s public elementary and middle schools and Statesboro STEAM, the public charter school. The 11-year-old son of Sungkyun Lim and Jee Yoon Byun earned the title when Elikem Gato, a fourth-grade student at Brooklet Elementary School and son of Eric and Vivian Gato, misspelled “rendezvous.”

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