Area’s top speller heads to D.C.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Two hundred and ninety three of the country’s best spellers are converging on Washington, D.C. this week for the 2009 Scripp’s National Spelling Bee. Among those competitors is Lea Davis, the Oxford Middle School student who earned her spot in the national event by outspelling the local competition at the Oneonta Regional Spelling Bee held in March.
Davis, an eighth grader at Oxford, said she had never competed in a spelling bee before winning first her grade level and then the school’s competition earlier this year.
Competing in the Oneonta competition was much different than being on her home stage, but according to her building principal, Kathleen Hansen, Davis appeared calm and was even smiling.
“It was a nervous smile,” said Davis, displaying a more genuine grin. Once she got on stage, however, she said those nerves disappeared.
“I didn’t think about what was going to happen,” she explained. “I was just concentrating on spelling the words.”
And spell she did. According to Hansen, Davis spelled each of the words she was given without a moment’s hesitation, including the word “endemic” with which she secured the regional title.
“We were so excited,” said Middle School Guidance Counselor Sue Franco, who was in the audience with Hansen during the Oneonta event.
According to Franco, Davis isn’t the first Oxford Middle School student to compete in the National Spelling Bee. Olivia Powell, currently a senior at Oxford High School, made it to the national competition two years in a row.
Now Davis is off to the nation’s capitol to compete against spellers from across the U.S. and 28 countries. She is being accompanied by both of her parents, Margaret and David Davis, whom she said have supported her and helped her study. Expenses for the trip are being picked up by the regional sponsor, The Daily Star.
Yesterday, Davis completed the Bee’s first round, which involved spelling 50 words on a computer keyboard. Her score from 25 of those words will count toward her preliminary score, according to the event’s website. Today, she and the other competitors will take part in the second and third rounds of the competition, which will take place from 8 a.m. to 6:15 p.m. onstage.
After round 3, scores will be tabulated and the competition’s semifinalists will be named. If Davis is one of the 50 spellers who make it into the semifinals, she will be part of the televised broadcast on ESPN from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Thursday. The National Spelling Bee finals will be broadcast live on ABC beginning at 8 a.m. that evening.
Back at Oxford Middle School, Hansen and Franco are excited for Davis, and anxiously waiting to see how the eighth grader does in the competition. According to Hansen, they have a flat screen television ready in case she makes it to the televised rounds.
Davis, an eighth grader at Oxford, said she had never competed in a spelling bee before winning first her grade level and then the school’s competition earlier this year.
Competing in the Oneonta competition was much different than being on her home stage, but according to her building principal, Kathleen Hansen, Davis appeared calm and was even smiling.
“It was a nervous smile,” said Davis, displaying a more genuine grin. Once she got on stage, however, she said those nerves disappeared.
“I didn’t think about what was going to happen,” she explained. “I was just concentrating on spelling the words.”
And spell she did. According to Hansen, Davis spelled each of the words she was given without a moment’s hesitation, including the word “endemic” with which she secured the regional title.
“We were so excited,” said Middle School Guidance Counselor Sue Franco, who was in the audience with Hansen during the Oneonta event.
According to Franco, Davis isn’t the first Oxford Middle School student to compete in the National Spelling Bee. Olivia Powell, currently a senior at Oxford High School, made it to the national competition two years in a row.
Now Davis is off to the nation’s capitol to compete against spellers from across the U.S. and 28 countries. She is being accompanied by both of her parents, Margaret and David Davis, whom she said have supported her and helped her study. Expenses for the trip are being picked up by the regional sponsor, The Daily Star.
Yesterday, Davis completed the Bee’s first round, which involved spelling 50 words on a computer keyboard. Her score from 25 of those words will count toward her preliminary score, according to the event’s website. Today, she and the other competitors will take part in the second and third rounds of the competition, which will take place from 8 a.m. to 6:15 p.m. onstage.
After round 3, scores will be tabulated and the competition’s semifinalists will be named. If Davis is one of the 50 spellers who make it into the semifinals, she will be part of the televised broadcast on ESPN from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Thursday. The National Spelling Bee finals will be broadcast live on ABC beginning at 8 a.m. that evening.
Back at Oxford Middle School, Hansen and Franco are excited for Davis, and anxiously waiting to see how the eighth grader does in the competition. According to Hansen, they have a flat screen television ready in case she makes it to the televised rounds.
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