If at first you don't 's-u-c-c-e-e-d,' try, try again

For Tom Reid, an Austintown Middle School eighth-grader, the caissons certainly went rolling along Saturday. Spelling "caisson" and then "arcanum" correctly in the ninth round of The Vindicator Spelling Bee, gave Tom, 13, the victory that eluded him last year, when he misspelled "tardigrade."
At the end of May, Tom will compete in the Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C., with some 250 of the best spellers in the United States.
Of the 92 youngsters who participated by virtue of their having won their own school's spelling contests, only four were left at the end of the fourth round: Leslie Giles of Youngstown Christian Junior High; Raymond Simon of Kirkmere Elementary; Nicolette Dutken, a home-schooled pupil representing Christian HOME, and Tom.
Kudos to the winner: But after Raymond missed "credenza," and Leslie missed "kudos," the competition was between Tom and Nicolette for several more rounds, until she missed "caisson."
Nicolette, the daughter of Mark and Irene Dutken of North Jackson, said she had been practicing one or two hours a day for the last couple of months. Tom, however, said he did not study especially for the Bee but that he is a voracious reader.
Obviously, there is more than one way to gain spelling proficiency -- but all require some effort by those who would demonstrate their prowess with the written word.
For 68 years now, Mahoning Valley children have been participating in the annual event, a tribute to the schools the children attend, their parents, the adult volunteers who pronounce and judge the words. By providing a facility for the Spelling Bee, Youngstown State University has also contributed to the program's success.