Voices of Central Pennsylvania
May 2006
Team spells victory
by John Dickison
Each year the team names get more creative and the words get more difficult, but
neither development seems to daunt participants in this unusual local fund-raiser.
The eighth annual Corporate Spelling
Bee, sponsored by the Mid-State Literacy
Council, was held in late April at South
Hills School of Business and Technology in
State College. Local businesses and organizations sponsor teams by donating $365,
which organizers point out comes to "one
dollar per day to help fund adult literacy."
Seventeen teams of three spellers each
took the field this year, including the One
Wing Doves, sponsored by Babst, Calland,
Clements & Zomnir, PC; the Mighty Bright
Group, sponsored by Mutual Benefit
Group; the Foxdale Fanatics, from Foxdale
Village; the Hamilton Square Shopping
Center Dangling Modifiers; the Rough
Writers, from Penn State Center for
Excellence in Writing; the Telling Trio
Spelling Trio, from Friends of Schlow
Library; and Team Yener, sponsored by
Urish Popeck and Co.
Other teams included the Hounds, sponsored by McLanahan's Drug Store
Management Co., Inc.; the Killer Bees,
from Wienken & Associates; Webster's
WordMasters, sponsored by Cleveland
Brothers Equipment Co., Inc.; the English
Speaking Union Spellbinders, sponsored
by R.H. Marcon Roofing; and the
Orthographophiliacs,
sponsored
by
Maxwell Trucking and Excavation, Inc.
The Voices of Central Pennsylvania
team, which has won gold for previous
sponsors
Stocker
Chevrolet,
Dee
Construction Co., and Cleveland Brothers
Equipment, was sponsored this year by the
Galen E. Dreibelbis Property Account.
Despite what seemed to be a more difficult list of words than in previous bees, no
teams were eliminated until after the fifth
round.
Below are the words used in the local
competition, taken from the 2006 ScrippsHoward Paideia, the official word list of the
Scripps National Spelling Bee. Readers
may wish to test their skill and recognition
of this lexicon.
Round One: paralegal, fatality, elegant,
adhesion, salinity, verbally, echoed, misinterpret, audit, immediately, geranium,
cathedral, interlinear, quiver, carnival, sternum, malignant.
Round Two: procrastinate, tempestuous,
intimidation, methanize, remedial, deteriorate, fascism, illegible, recitalist, fatigues,
dispel, agnostic, sequin, pyromaniac, germinate, alpaca, kinetic.
Round Three: osculate, immemorial, protectorate, noncombatant, billiards, metabolize, approbation, ferret, isolationism,
monotheistic, tribulation, dissociative,
wrangle, graffiti, ecocide, tantalize, parfait.
Round Four: saponify, thirdborough,
bromeliad, irascibility, fronton, calcitonin,
bedizen, catadromous, asynchrony, febricula, hoyle, immunologic, sanguine, eutrophic, cortege, nacelle, ossicae.
Round Five: tutelage, Lilliputian,
concierge, solstitial, neophyte, quenelle,
patois, camarillo, tercentenary, menorah,
epistemology, eremitic, ayatollah, prestidigitator, flagitious, carpaccio, dysrhythmia, legerdemain.
Round Six: bayamo, guiro, sacalait, cornichon, demurrage, phaeton, lamellibranch,
pond, chasuloc, pendelogue, weltpolitik,
eisegesis, quatrefoil, ceinture, eloge,
kairos.
Round Seven: chouette, hartal, baignoir,
capriccietto, bergschrund, kakexia, cantatrice, acharya, chassepot, pynniped.
In Round Eight, the word "stultiloquence," which means silly talk or babbling, reduced the field to three teams of
finalists.
Those
teams
included
Philipsburg-Osceola Area Elementary
Schools, consisting of Kim Rousch, Sara
Brennen and Colleen Serencsits; Wasson
Insurance, which was composed of Carissa
Turner Smith, Sarah Birge and Rochelle
Zuck; and Voices of Central Pennsylvania,
whose members were Michael Casper,
John Dickison and Eston Martz.
The finalists were given dry-erase boards
so that they could simultaneously reveal
their written answers. Wordmaster Katie
O'Toole was surprised when all three teams
incorrectly spelled "wobbulator" (a type of
oscillating siren design).
Mercifully, the Sudden Death match was
not prolonged, and the Voices team survived with the sole correct spelling of "thymocentric" (a personality disorder related
to the thymus).
Celebrity spelling bee judges included
Judge of Common Pleas Brad Lunsford and
District Justices Tom Jordan and Allen
Sinclair. To date, no appeals have been filed
with the spelling court.
11
Community Calendar
Tuesday, May 9, noon
Change a Lifetime
Location: Bellefonte courthouse
Come learn and speak out regarding the number of foster children in Centre
County. Visit www.fostercaremonth.org for details.
Wednesday, May 10, 7:30 p.m.
Anti-war vigil
Location: College Ave. and Allen St.
The anti-war vigil continues weekly at the Allen St. Gates.
Wednesday, May 10, 5:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.
Caribbean Night Fund Raising Dinner
Location: 632 West Main Street, Boalsburg
Partners in Health is an organization that works in Haiti to provide medical care,
basic health services and nutrition to poor areas. Donations of $20 or more
requested. Call (814) 466-7778 for information.
Sunday, May 14
Mother's Day Wildflower Walk
Location: Spring Creek Canyon
A Mother's Day tradition. Visit www.clearwaterconservancy.org for more information
Tuesday, May 16, 6:00 p.m.
State College Bibliophiles Club Social Hour
Location: Bill Pickle's, Allen St.
A casual opportunity to get to know other community members who enjoy
books and book collecting. Visit http://www.thebookpound.com/scbc for more
information.
Friday, May 19
Bike to Work Day
Location: Allen Street
All-day festivities to celebrate the annual event.
Saturday, May 20
Walk to Cure Diabetes
Location: Pennsylvania Military Museum grounds
Walk-A-Thon to raise money for research into juvenile diabetes. Call (814) 2353666 for details.
Thursday, May 25 through Monday, May 29
Colonial Boalsburg's annual townwide celebration as the birthplace of
Memorial Day
Location: Pennsylvania Military Museum grounds
Boalsburg's annual Memorial Day celebration with family activities, food, live
music and more. Visit www.boalmuseum.com for more information.
Saturday, May 27, 7:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
Trash to Treasure Sale
Location: Beaver Stadium - Gate C
This recycling sale of the year is the outcome of generous donations from Penn
State residence hall students who have cleaned their rooms at the end of the
spring semester. www.hfs.psu.edu/treasure for more information.
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