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Vindicator Bee champ returns to try for second win
By Denise Dick
BOARDMAN
The reigning Vindicator Regional Spelling Bee champion returns Saturday for a chance to defend her title against 51 other spellers eyeing the win.
Annabelle Day, 13, an eighth-grader at Willow Creek Learning Center, and the best spellers from elementary and middle schools throughout the Mahoning Valley meet Saturday at the 82nd Vindicator Regional Spelling Bee in the Chestnut Room of Kilcawley Center at Youngstown State University.
“After school, I’ve been studying with my teacher,” Annabelle said.
She’s both nervous and excited.
The bee will be the second competition for Annabelle that day.
“I have a piano competition that same day,” she explained.
Her parents, Alan and Dr. Trang Day, arranged for her to perform first in the piano contest, which also is at YSU, so she can make it to the bee in time for the first round.
Like last year, Annabelle plans to bring her two Winnie the Pooh bears to the bee for luck.
Her win last year netted her a trip, paid for by The Vindicator, to the Scripps National Spelling Bee outside of Washington, D.C.
“I made a lot of new friends,” she said.
Annabelle lists Greek and Dutch words as her favorites to spell.
“For Greek, there’s usually rules for how to spell them,” she said.
An “F” sound, for example, is spelled “Ph.”
Besides studying with her teacher, Annabelle spends a couple of hours each night practicing with her father. He finds unusual words and quizzes her on them.
“Waterzooi,” a Belgian stew, and “vaalhaai,” a South African shark, are a couple she recalls.
Lynn Rabosky, Willow Creek principal and a teacher at the school, said Annabelle is probably the best speller of all of the school’s winners for the past several years. For the past eight years, a Willow Creek student has either won the bee or come in second.
“She has an amazing memory,” Rabosky said. “She just has a sense of how words are spelled, even the odd words.”
Spelling is evidently a Day family trait.
Annabelle’s sister, Tamsin, earned second place in both 2012 and 2013.
Both of those years, Max Lee of Canfield Village Middle School won the bee.
Now Max’s and Tamsin’s younger sisters will face off.
This is the first year that Jessica Lee, an eighth-grader at Canfield Village and Max’s sister, will be in the contest.
“It’s going to be a nail biter this year,” Rabosky said.
Besides each other, Annabelle and Jessica will face stiff competition from other spelling-bee veterans.
All bee contestants won their individual school’s spelling titles to advance to the regional competition.
Taylor Garner, an eighth-grader from Western Reserve Middle School, will compete in the bee for the third time. Her parents, Sean and Nancy Garner, each competed when they were students.
Victoria Jones-Burney, an eighth-grader at St. Joseph the Provider, will return for her fourth bee. Her mother, Lisa Jones, and her older brother both were bee contestants in their younger days.
Mia Bordonaro, a fifth-grader at Ohio Virtual Academy, returns for her third try for The Vindicator Spelling Bee trophy.
Four other spellers are returning for their second attempt at the top prize.
Each contestant will get a Merriam-Webster 11th Edition Collegiate Dictionary, courtesy of The Vindicator, as well as a T-shirt and school-champion certificate.
The grand champion of Saturday’s event will represent the region at the 88th Scripps National Spelling Bee from May 24 through 30.
The newspaper pays for the trip, including hotel, travel, tours and meals, for the winner and an adult companion. The champion also gets a trophy and a certificate, a gift card from the Rotary Club of Youngstown, a gift card from the Downtown Kiwanis Club, a floral arrangement from Burkland Flowers of Youngstown, the Samuel Louis Sugarman Award and other gifts.