The Fall Creek Stingers went to the final round of the IPEI Spelling Bee today, coming in second among 24 teams and going head-to-head with the winners, the South Hill Spellicans, for five final words before succumbing to umfaan, defined by Merriam-Webster as an Afrikaans word from Zulu meaning “a boy employed in southern Africa to care for small children or perform general work.”
The team of Chris Batman-Mize, Chuck Donovan, and Katherine Lockwood (the team’s pronouncer) correctly spelled these words: lunatic, pyre, symbiosis, asana, coati, behemoth, confederate, cabrito, epistaxis, persiflage, tracheotomy, acapu, oppugn, dinghy, and anodyne.
Fall Creek was well-represented at the Bee. In addition to the PTA team, Fall Creek mom Joan Doria spelled with The Bee-Attitudes, Fall Creek parents Christine Evans and Timothy Weber spelled with The Apiologicians, and second-grader Clara Weber was the Bee Fairy. Three ICSD administrators, including former FCS Principal Karen Keller and Superintendent Luvelle Brown, were The Invented Spelrz, and ICSD Board members Pat Wasyliw, Eldred Harris, and Sean Everseley Bradwell were the Lake Street Liaisons.
Thanks to the Stingers, IPEI, and all the sponsors (but especially ours, Hair, Etc. and Northstar House), for making this event happen, and for raising about $10,000 for IPEI’s grant programs.
