A Georgia Girl in Germany

Since Zachary won his school’s spelling bee, he qualified for the European Spelling Bee. He was excited about participating, and was a little nervous about being one competition away from making it to the National Spelling Bee in Washington D.C. There were 34 spellers -- all champions -- from DODDS schools throughout Europe (Italy, Spain, Turkey and Germany) who gathered at Ramstein for the 2009 championship bee.

Zachary didn’t practice much for this competition (nor did he for his school-wide bee). Fortunately, he’s a pretty good speller. However, I’m sure he would have felt a little more confident had he cracked the book a little more than he did.

He invited two friends to come watch the bee, and to be there for morale support. Brandon came for the beginning of the bee, but had to leave after four rounds so he could get to a Boy Scout activity (which Zachary, naturally, opted not to attend).

Zachary started out pretty well. Round one: “interrupt” ... 29 spellers remained. Round two: “tofu” ... 24 spellers remained. They took a break before starting the next round.

Notice that Zachary didn’t appear as nervous as during his school spelling bee -- when he put his hands in his pockets each time he stood at the mic to wipe the sweat off his palms. Round three: “amnesia” ... 16 spellers remained. Round four: “inane” ... 13 spellers remained.

I couldn’t figure out why Zachary covered his face often during the bee. I thought he might be covering yawns, but he doesn’t usually yawn that often. I asked him later, and he said he was covering his mouth while he spelled the words given to other spellers. Aha! Makes perfect sense.

Round five: “cravat.” He hesitated, asked for the language of origin and was told it’s a Slavic word. “K – R – A – V – A - T – E.” He was disappointed, but not devastated, when the judge replied, “That is incorrect.” When he sat down beside me at the end of the round, he leaned over and whispered, “How do you spell that word?” When we made it home and confirmed the correct spelling in his book, we noticed that he had spelled it incorrectly when we’d practiced it at home too. But, he tied for ninth place with the other four spellers who were eliminated during that round. (The girl behind him in this photo ended up winning the bee a few rounds later by correctly spelling “debacle” and “edelweiss.”)

Just after he sat down after being eliminated, his friend Jenna arrived. She and her family drove up from Stuttgart so she could see him during the bee. Well, her parents also came up to do some antique shopping and visit other friends, but Zachary and Jenna were excited to see each other nonetheless. She joined Zachary and I for lunch afterward, and spent the afternoon with us while her parents and brothers were off shopping and visiting friends.

Even though he didn’t head off to D.C. for another round of competition, he was pretty pleased with himself, and rightfully so. He placed in the top third of the competition and had two friends (plus his mom) support him during the bee. I think Jenna being there for the end of the competition brightened his day and was a wonderful counter to the possible downer of not winning. I also think he had realistic expectations, especially since the judges (and I) emphasized several times that everyone there was already a winner representing their own schools. I’m so proud of him for doing as well as he did -- he’s definitely a winner in my book!

Labels: Zachary