HOULTON, Maine — In today’s world of spell-check and auto text, it is good to know there is still interest in good old-fashioned spelling contests.
Thirteen Houlton Middle School students in grades 6-8 competed Thursday in the school’s annual spelling bee for the right to advance to the Aroostook County Bee.
Lasting 28 rounds and more than an hour, eighth-grader Meghan Schneider edged out fellow eighth-grader Nolan Porter when she successfully spelled “skirmish.” Both Schneider and Porter advance to the Aroostook County Bee, which will be held Feb. 13 at Fox Auditorium at the University of Maine at Fort Kent.
Students were given words in a random order from “Bee Master” LaDericka Sewell. Before the bee started, Sewell informed the contestants that last year’s Scripp’s National Spelling Bee champion ended in a tie for just the fourth time in the 89-year history of the bee, with two students collecting $30,000 in cash and prizes each.
The two winning words at last year’s bee were “stichomythia,” which means a dialogue of altercation or dispute delivered by two actors in alternating lines; and “feulletion,” a feature section of a European magazine or newspaper.
Students were presented with tablets of paper and pencils to write their words down, if they so chose. Sewell went over the rules with the spellers explaining they could ask for their word to be pronounced again; ask for a definition; or ask to hear the word used in a sentence.
Houlton’s bee featured a number of tricky words, such as “duvet,” “celestial,” “dim sum” and “curator.”
Also participating in the spelling bee were Gabe Fitzpatrick, Bailey Melvin, Christian Lively, Alexandria Reed, Ean Bolstridge, Keanen Lindsay, Sydney Lorom, Jonathan Smith, David Tucker, Ryder Graham and Ben Grant.
