Published Sunday, March 9, 2003
a spell
By Amanda Smith-Teutsch
Herald Staff Writer
The third time was the charm for this year's Herald spelling bee winner.
Amanda Henning, a sixth grader at Oakview Elementary in West Middlesex, spelled her way to victory Saturday at Penn State Shenango.
The winning word was "zinciferous."
"I don't know what it means," Amanda said, "but I knew how to spell it."
The word means "yielding or containing zinc."
Amanda finished in third place in the 2001 and 2002 Herald spelling bees.
To get ready for the spelling bee this time, Amanda said she started studying, at least an hour each night, in August.
Her hard work paid off. Amanda received plaques to hang in her school, a dictionary and thesaurus, a ribbon, a medal and a personal computer for winning the competition.
"I'm going to play games on it," she said, adding she needed a break from all the studying.
Before spelling the last word, Amanda had to spell quite a few tricky words, such as "triskaidekaphobia," or the fear of the number 13. That word, which came up in the seventh round of the competition, tripped up Eric Grasso, a fifth grader at the Notre Dame school.
Amanda gave a thumbs-up sign and a big smile after she spelled the 17-letter word correctly.
In the first round, 19 of the 45 competitors were eliminated when they misspelled words like "lieutenant" and "mortgage." "Judgment," a word that came up in the second round, sent four spellers to their seats.
Long words weren't the only problem for the spellers. Karen Siege, a sixth grader at Reynolds elementary, struggled on the word "ersatz," which means to serve as a substitute. After two re-starts, she finally got the word right.
"Words don't have to be long to be tough," said Herald News Editor Joe Wiercinski, who served as pronouncer for the event.
Miss Siege finished in second place, misspelling the word "fasciation." She got to take home a plaque, a dictionary and thesaurus, a ribbon, a medal and a $200 U.S. savings bond.
Stephen Deyarmin, a sixth grader at Hillview Intermediate Center in Grove City, finished in third place. He also got a plaque, reference materials, a medal and a $100 U.S. savings bond.
The 2003 Herald Spelling Bee featured students from 15 area schools. The competition, which began in 1989, is open to fourth, fifth and sixth graders who won their school's spelling bee.
You can e-mail Herald Staff Writer Amanda Smith-Teutsch at: ateutsch@sharonherald.com