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Spelling bee offers a chance to learn

The world’s top 565 spellers are gathering in the Washington, D.C., suburb of National Harbor, Md., next week to compete in the 92nd Scripps National Spelling Bee.

It’s a field that will include Zachary Kuntz, a sixth-grader at Stanton Elementary School. Kuntz earned the right to participate in that event when he correctly spelled the word “valence” to win the Herald-Star, Jefferson-Harrison County Regional Spelling Bee March 9 at Buckeye North Elementary School.

Kuntz, 12, the son of Brian and Kasey Kuntz of Toronto, will have a role in a competition that began in 1925. And while the world has changed in many ways since Frank Neuhauser correctly spelled the world “gladiolus” to win that first bee, the event’s purpose has not, according to E.W. Scripps.

The week offers many opportunities for the spellers and their families to see the sights around the nation’s capital and to get to know one another. Spelling will begin Monday and run through Thursday when the champion is crowned during a broadcast that will begin at 8:30 p.m. on ESPN.

It is a very serious competition, one that actually began late last summer when more than 11 million competitors began shortly after school resumed last August. The stakes are high — the winner will receive a $50,000 cash prize and an engraved trophy from Scripps; a $2,500 cash prize and reference library from Merriam-Webster; $400 worth of reference works from Encyclopaedia Britannica; a trip to New York City to appear on “Live with Ryan and Kelly;”and a trip to Hollywood to appear on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”

Spellers and their families also will have the opportunity to explore the area around the National Resort and Convention Center, do some sight-seeing in the nation’s capital and get to know their fellow competitors during other events.

Since 1985, the Herald-Star and the Jefferson County Educational Service Center have presented our local regional bee, which is made possible thanks to sponsors including Special Tactics and Rescue Training and 360 Safe Solutions, Huntington Bank, PNC, WesBanco, the Franciscan University of Steubenville, Gus’s Goodies, Tri-State Financial Services, McBane Insurance and the Ohio Lottery Commission.

As we have said many times in the past, the dedication and discipline it takes to be successful in academic competitions helps to set a foundation for future.

Please keep that in mind as you join us in wishing Kuntz well as he represents our area in the national bee.

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