Tongue twisters and obscure words foil efforts of celebrity spellers at inaugural celebrity spelling bee
Spell-check is guaranteed to flag these words every time, yet several were among words spelled correctly by celebrity spellers at the inaugural Tuscarawas County Celebrity Spelling Bee, presented by the Tuscarawas County Literacy Coalition. Admittedly, although initial words included choices such as ‘kitten’, by the final rounds the multi-syllable words were tumbling, although sometimes haltingly, out of the mouth of announcer Jim Gill.
“If someone else can pronounce these correctly, then please come up here!” pleaded Gill, director of the Dover Public Library, but he had no takers on his offer.
The bee paired County Commissioner Chris Abbuhl, Bruce James of Union Hospital, Mike Lauber of Tusco Display, Sally O’Donnell of First Federal Community Bank, Kristin Zemis of Black, McCuskey, Souers and Albaugh Legal Professional Association, and Wendy Zucal, of the Dennison Depot Museum, with fourth-grade students from New Philadelphia’s York Elementary School. The students, Oakley Angel, Michael Bihari, Abigail Connerton, Gavin Dennison, Abigail Kneuss, Emily Pfeiffer, Evan Preston, Sienna Quillin, Kelsey Sharp, Madison Vance and Kourtney Watson, served as coaches for the celebrities, and met together before the bee began to plan their strategies and go through a last minute spelling list overview. The spellers and their coaches were announced as they entered the auditorium and took their places on the stage, with celebrity spellers seated in the front row and their coaches grouped behind them.
Then the words began. Celebrity spellers took their words from Gill and stood at the platform as they attempted to spell them correctly. Lauber nailed the spelling of ‘Gnadenhutten’, which was no surprise since his company, Tusco Display, is located there. Zucal received the word ‘Uhrichsville’, and Abbuhl was given ‘Tuscarawas’. One whole round involved obscure cooking terms. Yet another threw out words that were applicable to each contestant’s profession or personality.
There were scattered instances of the contestants turning to their youthful coaches for assistance, which was permitted if the speller missed out on his or her first try. Each contestant also had the opportunity to purchase up to three mulligans, or do-overs, at $10 each, and as the words became harder, the mulligans began to be cashed in.
The inevitable finally happened. Contestant O’Donnell misspelled benevolent, after having several chances at the word, and she and her team had to leave the stage. Tension mounted among both spellers and coaches.
Then the big one hit. Abbuhl stepped up to the microphone, and Gill looked him squarely in the eye and pronounced ‘Gekelmukpechunk’, which was a Native American name for the current village of Newcomerstown.
“You’ve got to be kidding!” protested the commissioner good-naturedly. “That word wasn’t even on the study list. I can’t even pronounce it!”
His co-contestants snickered at his dilemma, not seeming to acknowledge that they would soon suffer similar fates. After several errant attempts, the three judges raised the red flag and Abbuhl and team were eliminated.
James went down on ‘cinematheque’, in spite of furious scrambling of assistance by his assigned fourth graders. Lauber was next to be eliminated, leaving the two ‘Zs’, Zemis and Zucal, to battle it out for the championship.
“This is fun!” exclaimed fourth-grader Gavin Dennison during the intermission called by judges Pat Comanitz, Tom Jekel, and Michelle McMorrow Ramsell. The young man confidently predicted that his team would prevail.
Back and forth Zemis and Zucal battled, their teams anxiously rifling through their notes in attempts to be of assistance. Finally, Zucal missed a word, and Zemis went on to first spell ‘termagancy’, and then ‘sciatica’ to come out triumphant.
Zucal and her team, Gavin Dennison and Sienna Quillin, were cheered wildly by the crowd as Gill presented them with their awards, which included jars of honey provided by the Tuscarawas County Beekeepers Association. All participants received gifts of books.
“I think we have a lot of really smart kids,” commented Dee Grossman, a member of the Literacy Coalition. “But none of them, including the adults, seemed to be able to spell Gekelmukpechunk!”
More information on the coalition can be found at http://www.tuscarawascountyliteracycoalition.org.
Published: May 28, 2011
