Spelling bee will benefit Reaching Heights

Heights High students representing the Minority Student Achievement Network (MSAN) posed for a team photo before the silly yet serious spelling competition at the 2017 Reaching Heights Community Spelling Bee. [photo by Jen Vinson]

Join in the fun at the annual Reaching Heights Community Spelling Bee on Wednesday, April 18. This year’s bee will take place on the big stage at the newly renovated Cleveland Heights High School auditorium.

Come watch your neighbors—attorneys, professors, city council members, business owners—as they participate in a serious spelling competition to benefit Reaching Heights’ public education programs.

Doors open at 6:30 p.m. for this free, family-friendly event. Prior to the beginning of competition at 7 p.m., raffle tickets and refreshments will be available for purchase.

This spelling bee is a team event in which three spellers work together to write down the letters in the word given to them and then send a teammate to the microphone to read out the team’s best guess. Teams, including the Episco-spellians from St. Pauls Episcopal Church, and Upper Case from Case Western Reserve University, dress in costumes that in past years have included straw hats and feather boas, bee antennae and wings, and graduation caps and gowns.

It's not too late to form a team. If you’d like to participate, instead of just watch, find a couple of friends, raise the $500 entrance fee, and join the fun. [For registration information, visit www.reachingheights.org.]

This annual event is a community collaboration to support Reaching Heights programs that enrich students, support teachers, and connect the Heights community to its public schools. Come make some noise, cheer for your team, support Reaching Heights, and feel the tension as brave spellers take the long walk to the microphone to S-P-E-L-L  H-A-R-D  W-O-R-D-S.