Thursday, January 30, 2014

Organizers Abuzz Over Upcoming Inland Valley Regional Spelling Bee



The following news release is courtesy of organizers of the Inland Valley Regional Spelling Bee:
Pronouncer: Your word is “sassafras”  

Speller: Can you give me the definition, please  

Pronouncer: The dried bark of the root of an aromatic tree used as a flavoring or in the production of perfumes.  

Speller: Can I have the country of origin, please  

Pronouncer: This word went from Latin to Spanish  

Speller: Would you use it in a sentence, please  

Pronouncer: Alba’s recipe for medicinal tea contains sassfras.

On March 1, 2014, 108 school champions will gather at the Design Technology Center on the campus of Mount San Antonio College to compete in the seventh annual Inland Valley Regional Spelling Bee.

Our champion will go on to Washington DC to compete in the Scripps National Spelling Bee in May. There, our winner will face close to 300 of the best spellers from all over the English speaking world. It’s an exciting time for all these spellers and the experience they gain will help them grow into knowledgable adults.   

The atmosphere at the IVRSB is always electric, but this year it will be even more so. In the past, the event has been held over two consecutive weekends, but this year the preliminaries and the finals will happen on the same day.

Director, Sherm Griffone says “We decided to do this to cut the number of scheduling problems faced by the contesants. These kids are very bright and very involved.”   

Last year’s winner, Hannah Sylvestro will be returning this year along with a few others that have competed in the past. We will be hosting spellers from all over the Inland Valley ranging in age from seven-year-old Austin Leong to 14-year-old Taylor Austin.   

When the competitors arrive at 7:30 a.m. they will be divided into three groups. Over the next four and a half hours they will compete in three venues: Oral spelling, written spelling and written vocabulary. At the end of the morning, spellers with the top 30 scores will go on the finals in the afternoon.   

At the end of the day, the top speller will be presented with the traveling trophy, a copy of Mirriam Webster’s Third Edition and an all expense paid trip to Washington DC provided by Quest Literacy Consortium.   

To learn more about the Inland Valley Regional Spelling Bee and our generous sponsors, go to our website: www.ivrsb.com

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