<p>Just wondering if there are any other National Spelling Bee past participants (parents or spellers) on CC currently. DS participated in 2 of the national bees and we are excited to watch the finals today!</p>
<p>That was the term I read for the first time in our local paper's account of the bee. In the dark ages, I won 2 school bees (one in 6th grade and another in 8th) and participated in our city/county bee. The last time I came in 3rd out of 150 kids, narrowly missing the chance to participate in the regional bee, the winner of which would go to the national competition.</p>
<p>I try to watch coverage when I can--any others on CC?</p>
<p>My D was in the NSB from 1998-2000 when she was 9, 10, and 11. Then the sponsoring newspaper dropped sponsorship and there has not been a representative to the national bee since. I have it on ESPN now!</p>
<p>Oh, and my D was filmed for the documentary "Spellbound" when she was 10...she was far too normal, so her footage fell to the cutting room floor. But they restored it as a Bonus Track on the DVD! (My face still shows up in the main movie).</p>
<p>guiltguru--how cool! We love Spellbound! DS won a copy one year when he went to DC. DS actually has a cameo in Akeelah and the Bee! The Bee has gotten into our blood around here and we get geeked up every year. What a great time we had at those Bees!</p>
<p>We know the 2001 national champion. That trophy is an AWESOME addition to a living room.</p>
<p>dg5052- The Bee is on now on ESPN and final rounds are this evening at 8pm on network tv. (I think NBC but not sure).</p>
<p>DS came in 26th place in 2004 and to be honest, in our hearts, he was the winner.</p>
<p>one of my best friends was a 1996 national finalist. unfortunately, the local qualifying process was such at that time that only elementary schoolers could qualify (fifth or sixth grade depending on the district) so his career ended after fifth grade. he didnt take it seriously enough to be great, but it would have been nice if he could have gotten a few more shots on national tv (he went out in round 4). </p>
<p>samir is spelling! if he doesnt win this year... im going to be upset. (though nothing against the winner should that happen, of course.)</p>
<p>(hey, are you the same eric@bucknell from the basketball-u board?)</p>
<p>We always TiVo the spelling bee and take bets on which kids will end up socially well-adjusted. (No offense to the parents, but some of those kids are really just scary) I remember last year there were a few kids with really amusing sarcastic comments for the judges.</p>
<p>Knocked out at the county level in 1980, lol.</p>
<p>I used to help run a Corporate Spelling Bee as a fundraiser (companies could sponsor three-member teams, who spelled together) and it was a blast.</p>
<p>Oh, and muppetcoat, there is a sports satire page which recently had a funny faux story about a kid being knocked out on the word "girlfriend" (a word he had not ever thought about before)</p>
<p>muppetcoat, we know many many of the spellers from prior NSB very well...and, almost all end up well-adjusted. The winner of the 1999 Bee will be a senior at our local college next year (highly ranked Big Ten school) and is the most well-adjusted, neatest kids I've ever met. We still keep in contact. In general, these are kids who learned how to work efficiently in a very focussed way at a young age. And they keep working at a high level at whatever they do. My D's highest finish was 17th in the NSB and her uncle described her as "the most grounded teenager I've ever met." I agree.</p>
<p>guiltguru- we also keep in touch with many of our Bee families and enjoy hearing about how kids are doing. My S is far more interested in sports and music than academics at this point---I think he is pretty normal as kids go.</p>
<p>Whelps...Samir is gone...there are some pretty good kids this year. I swear it's 90% knowing roots and prefixes in addition to asking the correct questions. I'm personally rooting for the kid from Harrisburg, Pa (closest to my hometown).</p>
<p>I almost made it to my class bee one year...I didn't learn to spell well until college :p</p>
<p>Our local education foundation (non-profit group that has a few key events that raise funds, then distribute them via grants, to reduce fundraising by kids, ie selling candy bars etc) has just completed the 2nd annual spelling bee.......we had 32 teams....3 people per team... $100 a person, $300 a team, in 1 evening we raised about $9K..... some folks donate/sponsor a team....teams all have clever names, costumes etc.....6 rounds......4-5 teams per round.....kids and parents can be a team.....younger kids from elementary school walk the Round 1 and Round 2 signs across the stage.....they are sooo proud... we sponsor a team from the school board, a team from the firefighters.. some teachers form teams..... we fill the auditorium with the audience of well wishers..... it is a great "community" event....builds tremendous good will and is not a ton of work to do.......I strongly encourage any school community to consider it as it is a lot of fun to do.....</p>
<p>It's on right now on ABC.</p>
<p>why do they ask the guy to use it in a sentence..</p>
<p>Boridi,
they ask for the use in a sentence to confirm their understanding of the word....hearing it used helps them narrow their choices....</p>
<p>k.. I assumed that that they'd understand part of speech/definition by hearing those directly but i could see how a sentence would help</p>
<p>Ursprache ... the word that won. I saw the tail end of the bee only ... a girl from New Jersey and a girl from Edmonton, Alberta. The girl from NJ won. I always did well in spelling bees, but these kids were spelling words I'd never heard. Great job to all who participated!</p>