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Vindicator spelling bee champ goes to Washington
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Lauren Ritz of New Castle, Pa., who won the Vindicator Regional Spelling Bee in March, will compete in the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C., this week.
By Denise Dick
BOARDMAN
Lauren Ritz’s classmates at Willow Creek Learning Center plan to track her progress online this week during the 84th Scripps National Spelling Bee.
Lauren, 13, of New Castle, Pa., a seventh-grader at the private school, and her family will travel today to Washington, D.C., and preliminary rounds begin Monday. Last March, Lauren won The Vindicator’s 78th Regional Spelling Bee, earning her a place in the national event.
To make it to the regional bee, Lauren outspelled other Willow Creek students, a feat she achieved in 2010 as well.
She says she’s ready for the national bee.
“I’ve been trying to study more prefixes and roots than I did before,” Lauren said. “I find that very helpful.”
Her parents, Lisa and Stephen Ritz, and younger brother, Alex, 11, will travel to the nation’s capital to watch the bee and take in some sightseeing.
The trip is underwritten by The Vindicator.
But she’ll have a cheering section back at school, too.
Principal Lynn C. Rabosky said the school will check online during the bee to see how Lauren is doing.
Rabosky described Lauren as an outstanding student who excelled in all of her subjects.
“She’s very sweet, very poised,” the principal said. “We love her here.”
Spelling seems to run in the Ritz family.
Alex, a fifth-grader at Willow Creek, was the runner-up of the school’s bee one year.
Monday begins with a preliminary written test followed by rounds two and three Wednesday.
“If you get a certain number of words right, then you move on to semifinals,” Lauren said.
She’s been practicing and says she’s not nervous.
“There’s PDF online you can download with 1,000 words to study from,” Lauren said.
She’s been studying some each day including on the way to and from school.
Lisa Ritz said her daughter is very excited about the competition. Sometimes she quizzes her daughter on the words, but Lauren has been working more independently to prepare for the national bee.
The trip runs through Friday with open sightseeing, a tour of the city and a farewell party scheduled.