Buzzing past the competition

A group of school children sits or stands at the front of the class, one apart from the rest. One, or perhaps a few adults sit at a table facing the children with a crowd of parents and students behind them. It's the spelling bee.

Since at least 2018, Sunset Middle School has hosted the event with varying levels of participation, this year, there was a record number of 18 participants and according to co-hosters Tanya Gaurmer (language) and Katie Silverberg (special education), it was "a huge hit." Initially, a preliminary spelling bee is hosted in students' advisory classes. The top two spellers from each level are then awarded a certificate to participate in the school-wide bee, and students are also welcome to volunteer for it as well.

"Spelling bee is important to improve students' spelling, increase their vocabulary, and develop the correct English Language usage that will help them in their daily lives," Silverberg said. She also said that the bee provides students with the opportunity to compete and to celebrate their peers.

Eighth-grader Jack Frailey (13) was the winner of this year's competition. Like most participants, he said that the pressure to remember how to spell words was most challenging. This pressure was, perhaps, heightened for Frailey due to his stutter. To accommodate this, bee sponsors Gaurmer and Silverberg arranged for a white board for written answers.

"I hadn't heard of accommodations for the spelling bee before and it has not come up in the short time I have been the sponsor of the spelling bee at Sunset," said Gaurmer. "After he won the school bee I contacted the organizer of the Boulder County Spelling Bee and ...[she] let us know that moving on, Jack could continue to use the white board to write out his answers and that such accommodations are also allowed at the national spelling bee."

The regional competition will be held early April and the Scripps National Spelling Bee is scheduled to take place in May 2022.