Spelling Bee Buzz at St. Rita School

The mood was excited and supportive at the St. Rita School Spelling Bee on Friday, Feb. 4, with grades 1-8 in attendance to cheer on each individual speller on the stage in the parish’s O’Malley Hall.

The warm-up act, the “mini-Bee” for the younger grades, was well underway as I arrived. I did a double take, thinking these were very small middle schoolers. I was amazed at the difficulty level for the younger grades’ vocabulary.

The contestants were whittled down to three avid spellers: third grader Tess Fundter, first grader Robbie Nardoni and second grader Sarah Tupy. One would triumph but miss on the winning word. Another round. The other would triumph, yet miss the word that would deem them champ. Finally, Sarah Tupy spelled dandruff correctly, followed by the championship word, dignify. Second place went to Fundter and third place to Nardoni.

Applause. Applause.

When the “real bee” began, the students were pumped up and really in the spirit, yet respectful that this was a tournament where consistency, cool and calm is required.

The competing students retained their composure as they moved through the musical chairs, and finally three remained in the front row: Caitlin Mispagel, Kathryn Martinez and Ethan Prins.

Caitlin Mispagel, a sixth-grade student of Ryan Hagen, correctly spelled the word thespian to the assembled students, followed by a second of hush to get the high sign from the judges on the accuracy of the spelling.

Yes, it was correct!

First place was awarded to Caitlin Mispagel, second to Kathryn Martinez in eighth grade and third place to Ethan Prins in seventh  grade.

"Caitlin Mispagel will go on to the next level of the Scripps Spelling  Bee at 10 a.m. on Saturday, Feb. 26, 2011, at Walter Reed Middle School in North Hollywood. Mispagel will compete against 88 other children from Los Angeles County. The winner of the regional bee will attend the Scripps National Spelling Bee later this year," commented Christine Vincent, Spelling Bee Coordinator and fourth grade teacher at St. Rita School.

See the Bee’s website for more details: http://www.spellingbee.com/

Mispagel did not need to hear the word repeated, defined used in a sentence or the origin of the work, though this extra definition is allowed.

For those of us who might be fuzzy on thespian, here’s the full information from Encarta:

Thes pi an (noun)

Actor

somebody who acts on the stage

Thes pi an (adjective)

Of theater

relating to the theater or the profession of acting