Does pupil have spelling bee's number?

This year, a new school will send a representative to the annual spelling bee.
YOUNGSTOWN -- The number four might be Kellianne Craig's lucky number.
The 12-year-old seventh-grader won all four spelling bees at her school this year, and Saturday she will represent St. Christine School in the 69th annual Vindicator spelling bee for the fourth time.
She was in fourth grade the first time she represented her school in the annual spelling bee. That year, Kellianne said, she lost one of the monthly spelling bees at her school but still won more than any of her schoolmates.
At St. Christine, she explained, a teacher organizes a spelling club at the beginning of the school year. The club is open to pupils in grades four through eight. Then, starting in November, there are monthly spelling bees. Whoever wins the most of those bees goes on to represent the school at The Vindicator bee.
The winner of the bee, which will be at Youngstown State University's Kilcawley Center in the Chestnut Room, travels to compete in the Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee in Washington in May. The competition starts at 8:30 a.m.
Joining Kellianne in the bee this year are 96 pupils from throughout the region. They represent public, parochial and children that are home schooled.
A first-year school participant is Open Door Christian Academy, affiliated with Rising Star Baptist Church on Youngstown's East Side. Diara Harris, 9, will represent the school. Diara is a fourth-grade honor roll student who likes reading, writing poems and cheerleading.
To represent the Christian day school in the bee, Diara won her school's spelling bee. ODCA offers classes through grade six.
Prizes: In addition to the all-expense paid family trip to Washington, D.C., provided by The Vindicator, the first-place winner receives a trophy, $100 U.S. Savings Bonds from Jay Sugarman, chairman and chief executive officer of iStar Financial, $100 bond from the Rotary Club of Youngstown, $100 bond from the Downtown Kiwanis, a watch from Smith & amp; Co. Jewelers, flowers from Burkland Flowers, a Merriam Webster's Third New International Dictionary and its Addenda section, a Merriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, a Scripps Howard Spelling Ace watch and a Scripps Howard fanny pack and T-shirt.
The second-place winner receives a trophy, $100 bond from Ohio Edison, $50 bond from the Downtown Kiwanis and a Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee backpack and sweat shirt.
The third-place winner gets a trophy, $50 bond from the Youngstown-Warren Regional Chamber and a Scripps Howard national Spelling Bee sweat shirt and T-shirt.
First-, second- and third-place winners also will receive a copy of The Vindicator's "These Hundred Years."
The newspaper also provides all participants with a dictionary, official spelling bee T-shirt and school champion certificate of achievement.