Children compete for regional spelling title, trip to finals

It was fete.

The verb that sounds just like “fate” is what brought University Elementary School sixth-grader Byoul “Star” Han a victory Saturday.

It was her second-straight win of the regional contest for the Scripps National Spelling Bee at the Monroe County Public Library, so she already knew the ropes.

She competed with winning students from schools in Brown, Greene, Monroe, Morgan and Owen counties, each assigned numbers to keep their identities hidden from the judges to avoid bias.

The spellers revealed their names only once, after the judges had left the room.

When the panel of three judges came back into the room, the pronouncer of the bee, Deputy Trustee of Bloomington Township Allan Murphy, walked onto the stage and introduced himself to the competitors.

“Hello, spellers,” Murphy said quietly to the students. “I wanted you to hear my voice before I’m amplified.”

After a few jokes with the spellers, he went to the podium, adjusted his glasses and his papers, and spoke into the microphone.

He said he would read the word and note if there were any homonyms or multiple common pronunciations. Competitors could ask for the definition, to repeat the word, for the word in a sentence and for the word’s origin.

“I know you are all well-prepared. Let’s find out how well-prepared,” Murphy said. “Speller number one, please come to the microphone.”

A boy with blond hair and a colorful, striped shirt came to the microphone and turned it to face Murphy’s podium.

“Harmonica,” Murphy said.

“Harmonica,” Speller 1 said. “H-A-R-M-O-N-I-C-A, harmonica.”

There was a ding of the bell from the judge’s table.

“That is correct. Speller number two,” Murphy said. “As you can see, the procedure is for a bell to ring when the word is correct.”

Speller 2 failed to appear, but Speller 3 had “pretzel” and nailed it. Speller 4 had “sushi.” Speller 5 took the microphone for “macaroni.”

“Macaroni, M-A-C-R-O-N-N-I,” she spelled.

There was no bell.

“I’m sorry, that was incorrect. You left out a vowel,” Murphy said. “The correct spelling is M-A-C-A-R-O-N-I.”

Speller 5 walked to a row of chairs just off the stage, out of the spotlight and behind a large banner.

She wasn’t alone for long.

In the first few rounds, competitors “spelled out” in large numbers.

Spellers had to survive words such as “bungalow,” “interrupt” and “ambulance.” In the next round, they had to go against words such as “rapture,” “gardenia,” and “prairie.”

The spellers walked to the microphone, spelled their words to Murphy, then immediately snapped their gazes to see if the judges would ring the bell.

Sometimes, they’d be rewarded with the crisp “ding.” Other times, they would just be met with a consolatory shake of the head.

Soon, it was down to the final two spellers.

Speller 8 and Speller 21 exchanged words with unending accuracy. Each trip to the microphone was met with a more difficult word and a ding of the judge’s bell.
Karaoke, ding. Indigenous, ding.

Novillero, ding. Glockenspiel, ding.

Vaquero, ding. Sauerbraten, ding.

It came down to the 22nd round.

Speller 8 went to the microphone and had no problem with “edelweiss.”

Speller 21 came to the microphone and awaited her word.

“Pizzicato,” Murphy said. “Pizzicato.”

“May I have the definition, please?” Speller 21 asked.

“It’s an adverb and means ‘by means of plucking by the fingers instead of bowing as with a violin,’ and it’s a musical direction,” Murphy said.

“Pizzicato, P-I-Z-Z-A-C-A-T-A,” speller 21 said, then let out a short gasp. Her eyes were wide as she awaited the inevitable silence.

There was no ding of the bell. She hung her head low and turned to head off the stage.

“I’m sorry, there’s an ‘I’ in there that’s not aspirated,” Murphy said apologetically.

“Pizzicato is P-I-Z-Z-I-C-A-T-O.”

Speller 21 took a deep breath and made her way behind the poster to the chairs in the dark.

“We are now in an end-of-bee procedure,” Murphy said. “Speller number eight, that was the end of the round. This is a one-word championship round. If you spell this word correctly, you are our champion.”

Speller eight looked straight ahead, confident and without worry.

“Your word has a homonym, so I need to pronounce your word and define it before you spell,” Murphy said.

“Fete,” Murphy said. “It’s a verb, and it means to honor a person or commemorate an event with a festival or celebration. Fete.”

“May I have the language of origin,” speller eight said.

“It is French,” Murphy said.

“Fete, F-E-T-E, fete,” speller eight replied.

“That was correct,” Murphy said as the judges rang their bell and the audience burst into applause. “Our champion is Star Han of University Elementary. Congratulations, Star.”

Han was awarded with a dictionary and a trip for her and a family member to the Scripps National Spelling Bee.

When Han, a small sixth-grader, was handed her thick dictionary and winning materials, she almost fell over.

Members of the press and well-wishers swarmed Han and her family in the back of the dark auditorium. TV camera lights illuminated the happy family that was full of smiles.

In the darkness of the empty auditorium, Speller 21, seventh-grader Mary Skirvin of Brown County Junior High, was comforted by her parents. She was given a gift card to Amazon.com and a dictionary for second place.

After taking some time, the two competitors left the auditorium, meeting each other briefly in the breezeway.

“Good job,” Skirvin said, extending her hand.

“Thank you,” Han said.