Our champion crowned with 313 words to spare

Our champion crowned with 313 words to spare

The 76th annual Vindicator Regional Spelling Bee had a prepared list of 500 words read to test the spellers in Saturday’s event. The bee used only 187 of them, with fluorescent being the final winning word.

66 of 68 students spelled

There were 68 champion spellers scheduled to participate from 68 different schools. The contestants from Volney Rogers and Williamson schools in Youngstown did not appear.

Cheers for everyone

The audience, as usual, was extremely polite. One could literally hear a pin drop as each contestant paused to spell a word. There was applause after each speller finished, even if a word was misspelled.

Former regional bee champs buzz in to help

Two recent former grand champions of the regional bee were back for the 76th event, this time serving as youth volunteers rather than contestants. Lauren Johnson, the 2006 grand champion, assisted in handing out prizes to all contestants while Hannah Stang Gerdes, the 2008 champion, assisted spellers coming off the stage.

Spellers by the numbers

This year’s field was evenly split between the sexes, with 33 girls and 33 boys competing.

Of the 66 total, 52 were competing for the first time, 10 were back for a second try, three were in their third regional bee and one, John Umble, the grand champion, was back for a fifth time. John also was 2007’s grand champion.

Prizes abound for all school champions

No one walked away from the bee empty-handed. Every participant was given a Merriam-Webster 11th Edition Collegiate dictionary as well as a Vindicator Spelling Bee T-shirt a school champion certificate and other mementos.

The third-place winner received all of that plus a trophy, a special third-place certificate, a $20 Amazon.com gift certificate and a one-year subscription for a Britannica Online Student Edition of Encyclopedia Britannica. The second-place finisher received those same general items plus a $50 U.S. Savings Bond from the Downtown Kiwanis of Youngstown, a second place trophy and special certificate and a copy of “These Hundred Years — A Chronicle of the Twentieth Century.”

The grand champion received an all-expense paid trip for two to the 82nd Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C., a first-place trophy and certificate, a $100 U.S. Savings Bond from the Rotary Club of Youngstown, a watch from the Smith & Co. Jewelry Store in Boardman, a $1,000 Savings Bond from the Downtown Kiwanis Club, The Samuel Louis Sugarman Award of a $100 U.S. Savings Bond, a copy of “These Hundred years — A Chronicle of the Twentieth Century,” Webster’s Third New International Dictionary, a one-year subscription tor a Britannica Online Student Edition from Encyclopedia Britannica and a floral arrangement from Burkland Flowers of Youngstown.