Linkhorne Middle student is the w-i-n-n-e-r of regional spelling bee

By: Darrell Laurant | The News & Advance
Published: February 18, 2012

"E" stands for effort, which is a good way of describing Jensen Schram's performance Saturday morning in The News & Advance Regional Spelling Bee.

Unfortunately for Schram, however, it's also the last letter in the word, "repertoire."

"I knew it," the New Covenant Schools sixth-grader said afterward. "I just forgot the 'e.'"

That made an alternative definition of repertoire, in her case, "second place." When Schram finally stumbled after a marathon one-on-one battle with Sarah Phillips of Linkhorne Middle, Phillips stepped up to the microphone and nailed "egregious," earning herself and her parents -- Jon and Bernadette Phillips -- a trip to Washington for the national bee from May 27-June 4.

After third-place finisher Mary Kate Comerford of Sandusky Middle School went out on "uniquitous" in round 17, Schram and Phillips went word-for-word for 26 additional rounds.

Comerford had been briefly eliminated in the first round before pronouncer Margie Lippard realized she had inadvertently pronounced "radiant" -- the word Comerford spelled -- instead of "gradiant," the word on the judge's sheet.

Phillips was participating in her first regional bee, somehow managing to shoehorn practice time in amidst cheerleading, a math club and drama.

"This was the first year we were able to talk her into it," Jon Phillips said.

"I wasn't really nervous during the competition," Sarah Phillips said, "just a little bit at the start. The only word I had to guess at was ‘guilder.’ I thought I knew it, but I wasn’t completely sure.”

She pronounced her words slowly and methodically at the microphone, while Schram countered with a quick delivery. Schram finished third in her first Bee last year, and at age 11, has two more chances to win. For Phillips, this was her only opportunity.

Mayor Joan Foster, News & Advance opinion page editor Logan Anderson and City Council member Turner Perrow were the judges for Saturday's event, held in the auditorium of the Paul L. Dunbar Middle School for Innovation. Monique Crawley of The News & Advance served as Bee director.

Linkhorne Middle student is the w-i-n-n-e-r of regional spelling bee

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