Spelling Bee Rules

Westside school spells success

Their teachers aren’t ready to declare a spelling dynasty.

But after schoolmates Emma Johanningsmeier and Jenny Solheim made consecutive trips to the semifinals of the annual Scripps National Spelling Bee, their teachers at Westside Middle School do concede there’s something great going on.

“It’s a delightful development,” said seventh-grade English teacher Sarah Schoenrock.

Westside Community Schools in Omaha enrolled 6,023 students last year, making it Nebraska’s seventh-largest school district.

Emma tied for 20th in last year’s national bee. She misspelled “dysautonomia,” a disorder of the nervous system. She was the first Nebraska speller to advance to the national semifinals since Sarah Mirza of Grand Island in 2007.

Jenny tied for 19th place this year, bowing out on the word “scopolamine,” a medication for motion sickness.

Both girls are voracious readers and driven to succeed, their teachers say. They study hard, compete fiercely and have parental support.

In addition, teachers at the Westside district have taken steps within the bee rules to accommodate the high-achieving girls so they can chase their dreams of a national spelling championship.

In the run-up to the Midwest Spelling Bee, which draws kids from Nebraska and western Iowa, Kristen Job, Westside’s excellence in youth coordinator, provided the girls with supplemental books, guides and word lists to help them hone their spelling skills. Job arranged for the girls to do independent study in her room.

“We make time in their schedules so that they can focus at least a good 40 minutes a day on the spelling bee,” Job said. “You just have to sit and read the dictionary and you have to look at the words and you have to break them down. There isn’t a lot of time to do that in the regular classroom.”

The girls used the extra time to study the etymology of words — that is, the history of changes to words, such as the Greek and Latin roots, and how the different parts fit together.

Official rules of the Scripps bee require that spellers take a normal class load and not focus entirely on studying for spelling bees. The rules say a student must take at least four courses of study other than language arts, spelling, Latin, Greek, vocabulary and etymology for at least four hours per weekday during the school year.

The two Westside girls have competed against each other since elementary school. Each made it her goal a long time ago to qualify for the national bee, Job said.

Ramblings - Paul Ryan › Minnesota spelling bee contestants ...

A few Minnesota eighth-graders thought they were hot shit, but instead got their asses handed to them in Thursday’s National Spelling Bee Semi-finals in Washington, D.C. Returning home, the failed spellers were pelted with rocks and spit upon by angry local residents.

Mandy Papenridge, 14, from Valley View Middle School in Edina, totally assed up the word “weltschmerz.” She spelled it “weldschmerz,” which is a correct spelling only if you’re a total fucking idiot. The word means “mental depression or apathy caused by comparison of the actual state of the world with an ideal state.” This is fitting for Papenridge, whose embarrassing failure will likely cause her to be depressed and mediocre for the rest of her life. And rightly so.

“I tried my best,” said Papenridge, oddly cheery about her incompetence. “And I had fun! That’s the most important part.”

“Bullshit,” said Marvin Papenridge, her father. “This isn’t the Special Olympics. You win or you get the hose again. She’s in for a whooping when we get home.”

“It wasn’t her fault,” argued Ramona Papenridge, Mandy’s mother. “It’s ours. We should have adopted an Asian baby instead of birthing our own.”

Papenridge correctly spelled her first word of the day, “fissipedal.” Nobody cares now, though. That mildly impressive spelling feat is just a hazy memory, clouded by the vision of Papenridge pooping her pants while losing 10 minutes later. She also spelled “aretalogy” correct, which is ironic since the word means the miraculous deeds of a god or hero, two things which Papenridge is certainly not. The only word that applies to her now is “muttonhead,” used to describe a slow-witted retard who gets beat by a bunch of goddamn 13-year-olds in a spelling bee.

Nisswa’s Douglas Waynesbee, 13, was eliminated immediately after Papenridge by missing the word “pavonazzo.” Waynesbee spelled it “pavanazzo.” Loud expletives and a heckler making farting sounds with his mouth could be heard in the crowd after the error was made. Contrary to popular opinion, pavonazzo is a type of marble found in ancient Roman buildings, not a style of pizza named after Twins pitcher Carl Pavano. That was where Waynesbee made his mistake.

Waynesbee’s father was still supportive, despite his son bringing untold amounts of shame to the family name, possibly forcing them to change it.

Nuttall's spelling bee guide, condensed from Nuttall's standard pronouncing dictionary, Warne's ed

The spelling bee manual for competitors

Suggestions for community centers

Death by spelling, a compendium of tests, super tests, and killer bees

How to spell like a champ