On Saturday, March 3, HB seventh grader Lina Ghosh had to make a choice. Lina was tapped both to be Hathaway Brown's representative in the Cuyahoga County Scripps Spelling Bee sponsored by The Plain Dealer, and she was a member of an HB team set to take part in a regional math competition overseen by the Greater Cleveland Council of Teachers of Mathematics. She didn't want to let her math teammates down, so Lina stepped out of the spelling bee.

That decision allowed HB alternate, eighth grader Isabella Nilsson, to travel to Tri-C's Metropolitan Campus and take part in the regional bee with 54 other area students. After a grueling two and a half hours and 11 rounds, Isabella emerged the winner. Her winning word was "haberdashery," a purveyor of men's finery, such as hats, gloves, shirts and ties.

And with that correct spelling, Isabella has earned the right to represent Cuyahoga County at the National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C. this May. Lina fared well in her competition, too. She and her teammates brought home the highest commendation a team can be awarded by GCCTM.

On Tuesday, March 6, both Isabella and Lina were applauded and congratulated for their efforts in a morning Middle School assembly. And especially in honor of Isabella's achievement, all of the Middle School teachers donned their finest menswear and posed for a picture with the winner.

Read more about the Cuyahoga County Spelling Bee and Isabella's remarkable showing at cleveland.com: Cleveland Heights girl wins Plain Dealer Cuyahoga County Scripps Spelling Bee with 'haberdashery'