Roxboro Middle School crowns new spelling bee champion

Roxboro Middle School spelling bee winners (L-R): third-place winner Anya Chew, first-place winner Isabella Jaffery, second-place winner Beatrice Woodside.

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On Feb. 6, 18 spellers participated in 19 rounds of competition in the annual Roxboro Middle School Spelling Bee. After nearly two hours of intense spelling, Isabella Jaffery (eighth grade) earned the title of 2013 Champion by spelling luscious. Beatrice Woodside, a sixth-grader, won second place by spelling electrolysis, and Anya Chew (eighth grade) won third place by spelling oncologist. Sylvie Crowell (sixth grade) came in fourth, and Jesse Hodges, a seventh-grader, finished in fifth place.

Jaffery will represent Roxboro Middle School at the Plain Dealer Cuyahoga County Spelling Bee on Saturday, March 2.  This county-wide competition will start at 9 a.m. and take place in the auditorium at Cuyahoga Community College’s Metro Campus. Because the Plain Dealer only allows seventh and eighth graders to participate, Anya Chew will be the alternate speller for the County Bee in the unlikely event that Jaffery is unable to attend. 

The 18 spellers were Isabella Jaffery, Anya Chew, Ted Houser, Glennis Covault, Claudia Zhu, Sylvie Crowell, Lili Roosa, Chayla Edwards, Damaria Williams, Benjamin Schuster, Georgie Jolivette, Jesse Hodges, Noah Weisblat, Markayla White, Mary Jane Reinhardt, Beatrice Woodside, Julia Lynn and Christine Roberts.

The words spelled in the final tie-breaker rounds were:

Round 16: electioneer, exfoliate, incarceration
Round 17: thoracic, fibrillation, electrolysis
Round 18: transmogrify, halitosis
Round 19: oncologist, crocodilian

Special thanks to the parents, community members and volunteers who helped make this year’s spelling bee a success.  Beth Woodside, Roxboro Middle School parent, coordinated the event, and Big Fun owner Steve Presser was master of ceremonies. Angee Shaker, Cleveland Heights-University Heights communications director, was the pronouncer, and the judges were Donna Feldman and Megan Lutz, Heights High English teachers; Patrick Mullen, Reaching Heights executive director; and Patricia Gray, Coventry Village Library manager.