Kids Get Busy Spelling At Charlotte Region's Annual Bee
Monday, February 11, 2008 – updated: 4:17 pm EST February 11, 2008
CHARLOTTE, N.C. --
strat-a-gem [strat-uh-juhm] –noun 1. A plan, scheme, or trick for surprising or deceiving an enemy. –Dictionary.com
That was the word that won 12 year-old Molly Crawford the 54th Regional Spelling Bee Monday in Uptown Charlotte.The seventh-grader from Jay M. Robinson Middle School in south Charlotte will now represent the 14 North and South Carolina counties of the region at the Scripps National Spelling Bee held in Washington, D.C., May 25-31.When asked how she felt and how she thought she would do at nationals, the quiet and reflective girl answered, “I’m very excited, but it’s going to be a lot of work. All I know is I’m going to try my best.”Crawford won in the 25th round of the spelling bee when the only other speller left, Adelina Cato, misspelled jocosity by one letter.It took every bit of 25 rounds to narrow the field of 29, all champions in their respective school districts. Amazingly it wasn’t seldom used words such as notochord, abhorrence or contrapuntal that gave competitors the most trouble. It was more common, yet tricky, words like tarmac, enclave and pneumatic that gave these spelling connoisseurs a fit.
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The spelling bee is a big deal to a great many of these kids. After a misspelling and the subsequent walk off stage, it wasn’t uncommon to see a few quiet tears shed and a sad face buried in a mother’s reassuring embrace.These kids have nothing to be ashamed of, though. As my copy editor can attest, I, who get paid to write for a living, still have problems with the “they’re, their, there” homonyms debacle!To think that an 11- or 12-year-old can successfully figure out the spelling of a complicated word they’ve never heard before based on whether its root is German, French or Japanese is truly incredible.Congratulations to all of the contestants and good luck to Molly Crawford as she moves on to represent all of her peers at the national level.To see raw video from the spelling bee and to rate your own spelling ability, check out the sidebar of this page.
strat-a-gem [strat-uh-juhm] –noun 1. A plan, scheme, or trick for surprising or deceiving an enemy. –Dictionary.com
That was the word that won 12 year-old Molly Crawford the 54th Regional Spelling Bee Monday in Uptown Charlotte.The seventh-grader from Jay M. Robinson Middle School in south Charlotte will now represent the 14 North and South Carolina counties of the region at the Scripps National Spelling Bee held in Washington, D.C., May 25-31.When asked how she felt and how she thought she would do at nationals, the quiet and reflective girl answered, “I’m very excited, but it’s going to be a lot of work. All I know is I’m going to try my best.”Crawford won in the 25th round of the spelling bee when the only other speller left, Adelina Cato, misspelled jocosity by one letter.It took every bit of 25 rounds to narrow the field of 29, all champions in their respective school districts. Amazingly it wasn’t seldom used words such as notochord, abhorrence or contrapuntal that gave competitors the most trouble. It was more common, yet tricky, words like tarmac, enclave and pneumatic that gave these spelling connoisseurs a fit.
The spelling bee is a big deal to a great many of these kids. After a misspelling and the subsequent walk off stage, it wasn’t uncommon to see a few quiet tears shed and a sad face buried in a mother’s reassuring embrace.These kids have nothing to be ashamed of, though. As my copy editor can attest, I, who get paid to write for a living, still have problems with the “they’re, their, there” homonyms debacle!To think that an 11- or 12-year-old can successfully figure out the spelling of a complicated word they’ve never heard before based on whether its root is German, French or Japanese is truly incredible.Congratulations to all of the contestants and good luck to Molly Crawford as she moves on to represent all of her peers at the national level.To see raw video from the spelling bee and to rate your own spelling ability, check out the sidebar of this page.
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