Spelling bee returns
On Nov. 25, students from Upton Middle School and Newcastle Middle School will have their first spelling showdown since the COVID-19 pandemic.
The oral rounds of the spelling bee are open to the public and will take place at 1 p.m. in the auditorium, Newcastle Middle School Activities Director Carrie Manders told the News Letter Journal. The schools took turns hosting what had been an annual event for at least 10 years, but neither school has had a spelling bee since 2020.
“It’s another one of those things that had to go away back when we didn’t get to have any fun a few years ago, but we’re bringing these traditions back,” Newcastle Middle School Principal Tyler Bartlett said at the Nov. 14 meeting of the Weston County School District No. 1 board.
NMS students completed a preliminary written exam on Nov. 13, he said.
Manders said teachers chose to resume the event so that “highflyer students” can compete in an academic activity.
“Competing in an academic activity is beneficial for kids just like sports,” she said. “They are challenged to study, maybe overcome obstacles, and show what they know.”
According to Upton Middle School teacher Matthew Parsons, the competition the students are participating in is the Scripps National Spelling Bee. According to the program’s website, spellingbee.com, the E.W. Scripps Co., which is headquartered in Cincinnati, administers it “on a not-for-profit basis.” The schools are splitting the $185 participation fee. Details for a state-level competition haven’t yet been finalized.
English teacher Nikki Bartlett said in an email that the 22 Newcastle Middle School students who answered at least 13 questions correctly qualified for the spelling bee. Words on the test included “accessory,” “gruesome” and “sergeant.”
Manders said that students from both schools will take another written test the morning of Nov. 25 that is a qualifying exam for the oral rounds. The oral rounds are what Bartlett is most looking forward to.
“There will not be an all-school assembly for it, but teachers are welcome to bring their classes in if they want,” Bartlett said.
Bartlett said Manders led the schools in putting the event on again and reached out to Newcastle English/Language Arts teachers and Parsons to gauge interest after receiving an email from the program that had inquired whether the district was interested.
Parsons said in a text that he was “super stoked” that Newcastle Middle School contacted him.
“I’m rubbish at sports but enjoy academic competitions,” he said.
Parsons said his daughter Isabel is among the Newcastle Middle School students who will take the Nov. 25 qualifying exam. Fifteen Upton Middle School students qualified, but a few dropped out due to having “cold feet” or prior commitments, so the school will bring about 10, he anticipates.
“It’s a decent starting point, and I hope to have more next year as they and I learn what to do and how to make it better,” he said.
Bartlett said that if the schools continue the activity, the hosting schools may be able to alternate. She said she participated in the spelling bee when she was a student in middle school, and remembers traveling to Upton to compete.
”It was a great experience. It was a core memory for me,” she said. “I remember exactly what word I misspelled that left me in second place: occupancy!”
Bartlett said that she hasn’t yet shared words of wisdom with students, but she will. According to Manders, the spelling bee is “always a mix of emotions.” Some children are very nervous, and others are very excited.
“We always tell kids that they can do hard things,” she said.
Bartlett said that spelling bees test a skill that students normally don’t get to demonstrate to other people. She believes that students at all schools in the United States are typically weak in spelling skills because they rely on autocorrect to fix it or can quickly search for it on Google.
“It is truly an outstanding skill in today’s technology if a kid can spell something correctly, out loud, without writing it down or looking it up,” she said.
Manders said that the reading and writing instruction that elementary school teachers work hard to provide students helps them develop their spelling skills.