County spelling bees return with roughly 64 students competing, over 400 words
The champion spellers from across Ashland, Holmes and Wayne schools will compete head-to-head in county spelling bees this year, starting Tuesday.
Victoria Birk, the director of the Tri-County International Baccalaureate Academy at the Tri-County Educational Service Center, will be the pronouncer at the three bees, starting with the Holmes County Spelling Bee on Tuesday at West Holmes High School.
The Wayne County Spelling Bee will be held Jan. 25 at Orrville High School and the Ashland County Spelling Bee will be held Feb. 1 at the Ashland-West Holmes Career Center.
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With over 400 words between the three bees, more than 60 students will compete to be named the top speller in their county and possibly move on to the regional Spelling Bee in Akron.
History of the bees and how to get picked for them
This year will be the 47th spelling bee for Ashland County and Wayne County will host its 66th spelling bee.
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Debbie Stoler and Jennifer Marrah of the Tri-C ESC, organizers of the bees, said students must compete and get first, second or third place at their school bee in order to compete at the county bee.
From that point, Stoler said the students meet and practice with a school sponsor who teaches them “the strategies that good spellers typically use.”
How they work and how to win
The order of the students is randomly picked at the start of each Spelling Bee, Stoler said, and the list of words is only known by the pronouncer and the organizers prior to the start of each bee.
As each bee gets underway, they will open with a practice round to make sure all of the students are comfortable with the microphone and can be heard. While the number of rounds may vary per bee, all three will follow a similar format alternating between spelling and vocabulary rounds.
During the spelling rounds, students will be asked to spell out a word and are given different resources, such as definition and origin, to help them out.
Recently added at the county level due to it being introduced at the National Spelling Bee, the vocabulary rounds will work differently than the spelling rounds. During these rounds, students will be given a definition and asked to match it with the correct word from a list of words.
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All students who compete will receive a certificate and the first and second place winners in Holmes and Ashland counties will receive trophies, Stoler said. The winner of the Wayne County bee also will get a trophy, along with the seven other finalists.
The three spelling bees are held at various times and locations over the course of the next few weeks. Locations, dates and times are:
Holmes County Spelling Bee, West Holmes High School, 7 p.m. Tuesday.
Wayne County Spelling Bee, 7 p.m. Jan. 25, Orrville High School.
Ashland County Spelling Bee, 7 p.m. Feb. 1, Ashland County-West Holmes Career Center.
Reach Rachel Karas at rkaras@gannett.com
On Twitter: @RachelKaras3
This article originally appeared on The Daily Record: Ashland, Holmes and Wayne county spelling bees return this year
