The Dubois County Spelling Bee, sponsored by the Dubois County Herald was held in Dubois at the Dubois Middle School in Dubois County. About 75 parents, grand parents, friends and supporters showed up to watch the competition on a mild Thursday evening in January. Parking was at a premium though as the middle school boys' basketball team competed in another part of the complex.
It took about an hour and 12 minutes to flush out the winner from a field of fifteen middle school girls and boys. The contest was concluded when one of the two remaining contestants fell victim to his own quick-spelling bravado msipelling 'pyromania', which he immediately realized. The young man showed himself to be a class act when he quickly offered congratulations to the winner.
The winner was gracious as well and thanked his mother for her assistance. He prevailed despite having a midspell pause in round seven with 'deserter' and again in round eight with 'winnable', the latter edging toward the time limit before he spit out the second 'n'and finishing ith a-b-l-e to complete the word and ease the crowd's tension. He seemed to settle down from then on spelling with considerably more ease.
The third and fourth place winners went down in round thirteen after the final four had remained standing for six consecutive rounds. The fourth place girl seemed genuinely dismayed at missing her word but the third place girl looked like she might be relieved to sit and therefor cease to be a 'very tall girl' on stage. Her discomfort showed throughout the event as her slumping gave away her all-too-common body image criticism among adolescent girls. She was a good speller though who had pronounced the word 'exhume' in the tenth round notably better than the offical. She also displayed her mental toughness by correctly spelling 'curfew' despite being interrupted by the official in round thirteen.
Among the other runners up there were the two that went down when spelling a word with a letter that jumped out of their mouth before its turn. Perhaps some had just underestimated their competition. And some seemed to have gone into the experience with an ambivalent attitude about being a participant.
All in all the 2006 County-wide spelling bee went off smoothly as the winner enjoyed a $75 prize and an invitation to the next level and the second place received $25. The other runners up were validated with a certificate.
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It was worth remembering that when someone misses a word they are supposed sit on a chair on the stage. I think all Bee's do this. The first person to miss this particular evening did not follow the etiquette and immediately went to the comfort of her mother's arms in the front row. Fortunately or unfortunately, the second one to miss remembered the chairs on the stage and the rest followed.
I think the Bee officials believe they are being nice to the runners-up.
But, in reality, some who missed words had to wait almost an hour to cry the tears of frustration and disappointment. And others couldn't wait.
Especially when they knew all the words for the rest of the Bee.
(fact-checker's note: All of the numbers are approximations in good faith.)
2 comments:
Is it way too early to start two-a-days ( spelling drills; no pads ) in preparation for next year's Bee ? Want to know my TIP ? Hydrating is important so your mouth doesn't dry down and get cottony when crunch time comes . - been there, Detroit Slim ( Lincoln Elementary , Winchester , Massachusetts )
I finished fourth in the Dubois County Spelling Bee in Dubois, IN. I missed a word I should have gotten. I went too fast and wasn't thinking. I think that if you misspell a word the judges should ring the bell right away. I misspellied my word and they rang the bell 10 seconds after.
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