Romy Bekeris with her trophy, a Merriam-Webster dictionary. KCAW photo/Robert Woolsey.
It was a duel to the finish, in the annual Scripps Spelling Bee at Blatchley Middle School Tuesday night (1-19-16).
In the end, eighth-grader Romy Bekeris came up with the win, defeating last-year’s runner-up Emily Melnik in a head-to-head, three-round spell-off.
Bekeris won on the word “olfactory,” but not before misspelling a tricky naval term, as she told KCAW’s Robert Woolsey.
KCAW – What was the hardest word for you to spell tonight?
Bekeris – Frigate.
KCAW – Do you even know what a frigate is?
Bekeris – No, not really.
Bekeris opted for F-R-I-G-G-O-T, never having heard of the type of warship spelled F-R-I-G-A-T-E.
But then Melnik dropped an incorrect vowel into “ramifications,” allowing Bekeris back into the round.
27 students started out this year’s bee. They were the individual classroom champions at Blatchley. Some of the words they encountered in the early rounds included “modular,” “frequently,” and “casserole.”
But things got tougher in a hurry. In Sitka, as at bees all over the country, middle school students had to wrestle with words like “zealous,” “montage,” and “anorak.”
Seventh-grade language arts teacher and bee organizer Alexander Allison says spelling is not a dying art, and can even be fun.
“It’s a tradition. It’s a connection with our English-language lineage. Because we want to be Scrabble champions.”
Romy Bekeris took home a Merriam-Webster Dictionary for her win. She’s not yet decided if she’ll travel to Anchorage for the state spelling bee in February.
The winner of the Alaska bee will join students from the other 49 states in Washington DC for the Scripps National Spelling Bee in May.
And bee-fever in Sitka will likely remain high until then. This spring, the Sitka Community Theater will stage the Tony Award-winning musical “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.” Auditions will be held 4:30 PM Sunday, January 31, and 6 PM Monday, February 1, in Room 108 at the Rasmuson Student Center, on the SJ campus. There are nine main roles for performers aged high-school through adult.
