Losing the spelling bee

For the most part, there was nothing quite as eventful in the seventh grade compared to what I experienced in the sixth grade, but there are still a couple of major things worth writing about.

The first is the school's spelling bee. Every year, students in the seventh grade were given the opportunity to take part. I assume it was connected to the Scripps spelling bee. However, we were only permitted to enter in the seventh grade. When I saw the documentary "Spellbound," I was surprised to see that many of the contestants got to enter in the seventh, eighth and ninth grades. I don't know if they changed the rules of participation since I was a kid, but it was only the seventh-graders who were allowed to participate at my school.

And I almost did not get to participate. My English teacher plain forgot to tell the class about it. I happened to be walking into the lobby of the school when another English teacher told me the spelling bee was about to begin and I needed to go in right away. Later that day in English class, some of the other students complained that no one told them about the spelling bee. The teacher said that she knows she told us because I was there. I didn't mention that I got in by sheer chance.

The teachers took the words for the contest out of our vocabulary books. The first day went pretty well. I got all my words right. I always got 100% on the spelling tests, so I thought this would be a breeze. I told Mom after I got home from school that I was in the spelling bee. She told me I needed to study. Since they were using words we had already learned and I knew how to spell them, I brushed her off.

For Day 2, I got my first couple of words correct. On my third word, I swear the teacher said, "thorough." I'm pretty certain I spelled the word correctly, but my English teacher sadly shook her head. Since there were other teachers looking at copies of the same book, none of them challenged it. And none of the other students spoke up. Maybe I did get it wrong. I also theorized that the teacher meant to say "through" and it came out wrong and no one caught it. I'll never know. I just know that I was out of the spelling bee.

My mom got on my case for not studying like she asked me to. I don't think it would have helped. I was very unlikely to beat the person considered to be the top student in the seventh grade. He got to go to El Paso to compete in the regional spelling bee. I think he wound up in 35th place. When I look at how the Scripps Spelling bee operates and the words they use, there is no way I would have even done that well if I had gotten to go.

You'll have to brace yourself for tomorrow's post.