Super spellers: Lake students head to regional bee

Ahh, February. With the Super Bowl over, the sports and competition landscape is as barren as the snow-covered fields outside our windows.

But true purveyors of competition and adrenaline junkies know there is a respite just around the corner. No, it’s not March Madness, and it’s not spring training for baseball. Rather, it is spelling bee time, so grab your dictionaries and get ready. With the national spelling bee slated for the end of May, school competitions are already underway.

Lake Elementary and Lake Middle School recently held their spelling bees Feb. 2 at Lake’s Performing Arts Hall. Sixteen fifth- and sixth-graders went head to head, while 24 seventh- and eighth-graders duked it out, orthographically speaking. School bees may not be covered on ESPN, but they can provide the same white-knuckle drama and edge-of-your-seat anticipation as their big brother.

As competitors fell by the wayside, eighth-grader Mary Kate Jones and fifth-grader Brooklyn Jones emerged victorious in their respective bees. Their prizes, aside from bragging rights in language arts classes, include the opportunity to represent Lake at the Regional Spelling Bee, the next step on the ladder leading to the Scripps National Spelling Bee at DAR Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C., just a few blocks from the White House.

For the middle school, only three contestants remained as the bee entered the ninth round. Katie Arthurs, Lake’s 7-8 spelling bee coordinator, described the tense moment, explaining that the other two students “missed the word in that round and Mary Kate got it correct and then she moved on to round 10 alone and needed to spell that word correctly or all three would be back in the competition.”

Cool as can be, Mary Kate spelled affiliation correctly to claim the title, leaving seventh-grader Levi Hibbs as the runner-up. Perhaps a better word for her victory would have been perseverance, as the win followed three previous attempts.

“I actually did not participate in the fifth-grade spelling bee, as I got eliminated in the spelldown round,” said Mary Kate, the daughter of Eric and Nicole Jones of Uniontown. “I returned and tried again in the sixth- and seventh-grade bees and did OK. I think that goes to show that just because you failed the first time or didn’t do well, that doesn’t mean you can’t try again.”

That determination was also evident in the elementary bee, where Brooklyn needed 15 rounds to secure her title. She won by correctly spelling talcum. Several days later, the fifth-grader was still a bit incredulous.

“I didn’t think I was going to win,” Brooklyn said. “I was so excited when they said I was the champion.”

Brooklyn, the daughter of Jason Robinson and Simonette Jones of Canton, outlasted fellow fifth-grader Benjamin Jones, who is not related to her. He does happen to be Mary Kate’s younger brother, however, suggesting there may be a spelling gene in the family.

Brooklyn and Mary Kate will represent Lake at the Regional Spelling Bee on Saturday, March 7, at 1:30 p.m. at the Kent State University Stark Campus.