Letter to the Editor -" What the Spelling Bee Taught Me

There are few times in my daily activities that I am blessed to experience something that is both uplifting and gives me hope for our future generations. I realize that this may sound corny that a spelling bee would show me this, but corny or not it did. Every day I read about and deal with the darker side of our society in the form of people destroying their own and the lives of others with violence, drugs or other illegal acts. But sometimes, just sometimes, I get to do something where the only downside is there are misspelled words. A misspelled word in some context could change the entire meaning of a contract or create a misunderstanding between governments, but at the county spelling bee it means one contestant must step off the stage and let the others continue to spell on. But even if one of these young people misspelled a word they gave us all something to savor they gave us a glimpse into the strong character of some of our future leaders and an indication that our local education system can succeed. One would think that serving as a judge of a spelling contest would be tedious at best, but for the last four (4) years it has been my guilty pleasure to judge our county spelling bee. I sit there with my notebook with all the words spelled out clearly and precisely with the origin of each word, its definition and its use in a sentence. I listen to the pronouncer give each contestant their word to spell. Each of the thirty contestants representing their schools must step up to one of the two mikes with their number clearly displayed and correctly spell the word given. They can ask the origin, for it to be pronounced again, for it to be used in a sentence, or for its meaning, but inevitably they must spell it correctly to retain their seat on the stage and advance to the next round. Inevitably each speller begins their word with a hesitant breath and they spell. Oh, did they ever spell. Thirteen rounds of spelling before we had a champion. My role was to listen with my two fellow judges and if the word was misspelled I had to ring the bell yes the hated bell. The bell that let them know they would need to step down from the stage. But there is no bell that can dim these lights for our future. These young people, for these are not children but hardened spelling combatants for to call them children or kids is a disservice, come from all reaches of our county and all schools including home schooled children. They come from the far northern rim to the southern most regions. They reflect a true cross-section of our county in geographic origin, ethnicity and though I have no idea what their economic backgrounds might be, I think it is safe to bet that champion spellers come from every economic class. There were little ones that could barely reach the one mike that was set lower just for the youngest of our young people. And there were those who were clearly into their adolescent growth spurt. They were every kind of young person that you want to root for in a competition spunky, scared and eager. And they were and are every kind of young person that earned my respect. They earned that respect not for winning their local spelling bee, but for their poise, their presence to bravely step up to that mike each time and try, and their sportsmanship. As to the poise and presence of this group of thirty young people they could teach all of us adults and especially us attorneys a trick or two. Ask yourself, could you spell a word in front of a group of strangers in the audience, 29 of your peers to your back, on stage, in the spotlight and before you even know how to drive. Just imagine, no spell check, no dictionary, just nothing but what you brought to the front of the room. Now imagine, you are only 13, 10 or 9 and you are asked to spell those words you are not even sure how to pronounce but you step up and you do it. That is poise and that is presence. As to their sportsmanship many of these young people did something I have never seen before. Remember they are competing against each other as every time one of them misspells a word that means one less competitor, but I do not think they saw it that way for I saw something I wish I saw in every competition. They did not cheer for others to loose they cheered for others to win. When one of the youngest and smallest competitors spelled a tough word you saw the others cheer her success. These competitors were library quiet but out snuck the hands, that ultimate symbol of an alright you did it that we all commonly know as the give me five. The other young people each held out a hand so she could slap it as she returned to her seat successful. It was infectious you saw it happen constantly as if on a field of battle they became comrades-at-arms. And when sadly some misspelled words there was the pat and the reassurance that it was simply ok there is next year. And for each one of these young people there is next year and the rest of their lives to stand-up, go to the front and compete with poise and sportsmanship. For this year it is congratulations to our champion, Jacquelyn Oesterblad from Rim Country Middle School and good luck at the State Spelling Bee we are all behind you. And for me there is next year for another breath of fresh air and a chance to see more lights for the future.