Super spellers participate in spelling bee
BY LELAND ACKER
Success is spelled "e-u-l-o-g-y" for Paige Penn of Rusk, who won the Dallas Morning News/ESPN County Spelling Bee at the Rusk High School auditorium on Feb. 28. Paige correctly spelled the word "stucco," then "eulogy" to beat Gerald Salzarulo of Alto in the final round.

Paige will advance to the regional spelling bee in Dallas on March 17. The winner of that spelling bee will compete in the national spelling bee in Washington, D.C. in May. The regional and national spelling bees will be televised.

Should Paige be unable to attend the regional spelling bee, Gerald would be able to compete.

"They were such great kids," said Roy Reynolds, who served as emcee. "During the runthrough earlier, we were laughing and joking with the kids to try to loosen them up. They were very nervous. We had a lot of audience participation. I enjoyed it."

Mr. Reynolds said the county spelling bee was open to children in Cherokee County, who attend public or private schools or who are home-schooled. The 10 contestants in this year's bee represented the towns of New Summerfield, Alto and Rusk.

County spelling bee contestants line up to receive their participation ribbons. Spellers from Alto, Rusk and New Summerfield all competed.

The rules of the spelling bee are set nationally and have to be strictly adhered to. The contestants draw for the order which they will be called on, then the words are called out from a list which was set up before the bee. The list is designed to increase word difficulty as the spelling bee continues.

Should a contestant give an incorrect letter, they are eliminated even if they go back and correctly spell the word. Even with such clear-cut rules, there can be situations which call for judicial review.

One such episode took place when a contestant spelled "safari." The question was whether the contestant inadvertently placed a third "a" before the "i." Ultimately, the judges ruled the contestant correctly spelled "safari."

Another interesting moment came when Paige was called on to spell "stethoscope" in the third round. She had trouble pronouncing it.

"Can I just spell it?" she asked Mr. Reynolds, who then gave her another shot at the pronunciation.

County spelling bee winners Gerald Salzarulo of Alto and Paige Penn of Rusk display their trophies. The county spelling bee is open to public, private and home-school students in Cherokee County.

The spelling bee continued with contestants being eliminated one-by-one. Then, in the final round, Gerald got stuck on "stucco." After he incorrectly spelled the word, Paige was given the opportunity to spell it, before correctly spelling "eulogy" for the championship. Gerald gave Paige a congratulatory hug.

Each contestant was given a ribbon for participation. Representing New Summerfield were Jacob Calberson and Brianna Leon. Billy Lindsey, A.J. Clark and Gerald all represented Alto, while Rusk was represented by Jansen Applegate, Marisol Sepulveda and Paige.