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South Hill Spellicans Spell Again

The South Hill Spellicans, a perennial Ithaca Public Education Initiative (IPEI) Adult Spelling Bee favorite, stung The Bee-Attitudes, to recapture the coveted title of "Pick of the Hive" in the Ithaca High School Gym in Sunday afternoon's 11th annual Bee sponsored by Tompkins Trust Company. In the process they dethroned last year's champion Spellin' Hellions from
eCornell.com. The two teams battled it out for six words apiece in the final round before the Spellicans correctly-spelled "vorlage" (the position of a skier leaning forward from the ankles) to win the match.

In addition to besting the runner-up Bee-Attitudes in the final spell-off round of four preliminary round winners, the Spellicans had to fend off The Guthrie Word Docs and Fall Creek Stingers. The victors were thrilled to be back on top after a two year absence, according to team spokesperson Russ Charif. He went on to say it was a team effort with all three spellers (Anne Hobbs and Beth Howard in addition to Charif) working together to think through some tricky words.

In the final round things got pretty tense when just the two teams were left in the contest. Both teams stumbled twice on the same words, thus avoiding elimination. The rules say when the Bee is down to the last two teams, if one team misspells a word, the second team must spell it correctly or the contest goes on. The egregious words that stumped the two teams were
"xiphias" (swordfish) and "euge" (an act or expression of approval).

In addition to the unique team Bee trophy, which went to the winning team, the members of both the Spellicans and the Bee-Attitudes each received a $100 gift card to spend to support teacher classroom needs and projects listed on www.DonorsChoose.org. While the Bee was in progress, raffle tickets were sold, with the top prize being two tickets to the Hangar Theatre production next summer of the Tony Award winning musical comedy "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee"

Spelling Bee coordinator Gabriele Weber was enthusiastic about the event, saying the display of spelling skills was exceptional. "The teams get better every year," she said, going on to praise Queen Bee Jean McPheeters and Pronouncer Chris Allinger for their usual fine jobs. The Bee was once again broadcast live by Cayuga Radio Group station WNYY-AM 1470, featuring Geoff Dunn and Dave Vieser doing the word-by-word description.

The Spelling Bee raised more than $10,000 for the IPEI Teacher Grant program. In addition to the Spelling Bee, funding for the grant program comes from the Charles E. Treman, Jr. Teacher Grant fund and individual gifts from community members.

IPEI is a community based not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization that develops supportive community and private sector relationships with the Ithaca City School District. For more information, see www.ipei.org.

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South Hill Spellicans (l - r) Beth Howard, Russ Charif and Anne Hobbs with Pick of the Hive Trophy after their victory in the 11th Annual IPEI Adult Spelling Bee.