Hubbard speller makes her way through national bee

By Harold Gwin

The Vindicator’s champion said she’s had the opportunity to meet a lot of people.

YOUNGSTOWN — Hannah Stang Gerdes wasn’t allowed to give any details about the written preliminary test she took Monday at the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C.

Other contestants hadn’t taken the test yet, so spellers were advised not to comment on the content, but Hannah did say she felt confident about her performance.

“I think I did pretty well,” she said Tuesday when contacted by telephone as she and some 280 other contestants were treated to a Bee-sponsored picnic.

“It’s great. I was just playing some Frisbee,” Hannah said.

She’s still spending her spare time studying, but much of her schedule is taken up with Bee activities.

“There’s time to meet a lot of people,” she said, adding that today she and her family will visit an interactive science center.

Hannah, 14, is the daughter of Bob and Tena Gerdes of Hubbard and won The Vindicator’s 75th Regional Spelling Bee and an all-expense-paid trip to the Scripps national event in Washington this week.

The second round of preliminaries, in which each speller goes on stage to spell one word, is Thursday morning.

The announcement of who will advance to the quarterfinals will be made around noon Thursday, based on composite scores of the preliminary written and oral events.

The quarterfinals will be Thursday afternoon and the semifinals and finals Friday.

“Hopefully, I’m part of that,” Hannah said.

“Everybody’s really, really nice,” her father said, noting that Scripps gave each contestant a “Bee Book” that includes pictures and brief biographies of the spellers.

The contestants have been encouraged to get to know one another by tracking down each speller and getting them to sign their name next to their picture, he said.

“It’s been really great,” Hannah said.

She’s a four-time veteran of The Vindicator bee and finished second last year.

Hannah, who is being home-schooled this year, said she is aware that the competition at the national level will be extremely tough and she’s been preparing, spending as much as three hours a day studying words and word origins in the weeks leading up to the event.

Still, she’s managed to find time to do her schoolwork, take piano lessons, help teach preschoolers at Church Hill United Methodist Church and run the 1,600-meter event in track.

gwin@vindy.com