How do you spell first place? In this case its K-y-l-e, F-e-r-r-e-l
Kyle Ferrel is a Cortez Middle School seventh-grader who spelled his way to the schools spelling bee title. He bested 40 participating classmates on Wednesday, Feb. 8 in the middle school gymnasium.
Ferrel will advance to todays district competition along with Maddi Cooper and Ryan Jackson, who placed second and third respectively.
Not only did Ferrel get first place, but it was his first spelling bee.
There were a lot of people here and I was pretty nervous, but I guess I still got it, he said after the competition.
Ferrel said he wasnt sure what the hardest word was for him, but it started with the letter T. Maybe it was tentativeness, or maybe it was toilsome.
The spellers waited their turns quietly as they rotated up to a desk with a small dry-erase board. They could ask for word origins, definitions and for the words to be used in a sentence. Then most would write the word on their board and then spell it out. According to the rules, any misstep while speaking would count as a miss, so students needed to be confident once they began. Two strikes and they would take a seat in the audience.
With each round the number of spellers dwindled but the crowd grew. As many as 70 spectators filled the gymnasium as students were called on to spell words like clarinet, syllable, or circumlocution.
Seventh-grade English teacher Terry Wells, who was the official pronouncer for the spelling bee, said the students spend some time studying in English class but its not as formal as other competitive spelling bees.
We have a class bee to determine who will go on, but they dont have independent coaches. We just cover it in class and give them some websites to study from, Wells said.
Wells said the district competition will bring together students from fourth to eighth grades. The district contest will be held at Cortez Middle School at 5:30 p.m.
Its just like the national bee. The winner of the district will go to state on March 10, she said.
Wells has been teaching English at CMS for 15 years and says that the spelling bees are always fun to watch.
The nationals were on ESPN, she pointed out about last years national spelling bee.
Other tough words students were challenged with included exacerbate, pernicious and soliloquy, and as each word was announced, faces and brows in the audience wrinkled with uncertainty.
Ferrel made it past efficacy which means effectiveness to put him in the top three.
Tara Verenna, who teaches gifted education classes at the middle school, says some of the students were from advanced language arts classes but many were not.
Its a voluntary thing. Once theyre out of class, how much they want to study for it and how much they put into it (is up to them, she said. Some kids will come in and work with me during the day if they finish their class early but for the most part they do a lot of it at home.
Ferrel said he didnt know how far he would go in future spelling bees, but he would do his best.
Im not sure, but Ill sure try, he said.
Verenna said the students really are dedicated.
Theyre pretty self-motivated just to do well, she said.
Reach Brandon Mathis at brandonm@cortezjournal.com
