From staff reports
How do you spell success? S-E-R-R-E-F-I-N-E.
Or maybe Ursprache. Or appoggiatura.
Those were the three winning words from the 2007, 2006 and 2005 Scripps National Spelling Bees, respectively. (Serrefine means a small forceps used for clamping blood vessels; Ursprache is a parent language, usually one reconstructed from the evidence of later languages; and appoggiatura is an embellishing note or tone preceding an essential melodic note or tone.)
Area students will take a crack at spelling big words Saturday in The News & Advance Regional Spelling Bee. It’s scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. at the Paul Laurence Dunbar Middle School for Innovation.
The words likely won’t be quite as hard as those from the national bees, but they do increase in difficulty at each ascending level of competition.
The winner of the regional bee will advance to the national competition this spring in Washington, D.C., where all expenses will be covered.
The competitors have already demonstrated proficiency as spellers – especially for fourth through eighth graders; they each won their individual schools’ bees.
And they’re part of a trend.
“I think the big thing with spelling bees nowadays is the rise of the spelling bee in pop culture,” said Paige Kimble, director of the Scripps National Spelling Bee.
Bees are now televised, filmed in documentaries and covered in various media, she said.
In short, Kimble said, “Spelling bees are cool again.”
Moreover, bees offer “tremendous recognition opportunities for bright children,” she said. And, win or lose, competitors learn a lot of vocabulary along the way.
“I think the competitive level has risen in recent years,” Kimble said. “I think it’s a credit to kids and schools.”
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