'Expedition' is top word at spelling bee

With the Scripps National Spelling Bee around the corner, Colfax Elementary School students are hard at work minding their p's and q's. But first, there are a few steps students have to take before they go to Washington D.C., all expenses paid, if they make it to the top. The beginning steps in the spelling bee competitions, sponsored locally by the Sacramento Bee, are simple: the school must apply by mid-October and pay the $109 material and enrollment fee, then the school receives an oral word list for students to practice and study.For Colfax students like Mariah Martin, a sixth-grader, it meant studying those words two times per week. "This is the first time I've been in a spelling bee. I tried last year but I didn't make it in to the finals in my class," Mariah said. This year Mariah advanced to the school's spelling bee by winning her class bee with the word "obedient." Each class was given a list of 100 grade-appropriate words from which to practice.According to Ron Brand, who works in instructional resources at the Sacramento Bee, after students have submitted their written test, the top spellers are invited to compete in the Sacramento Bee oral competition. "We have about 56 students who compete in the Sac Bee competition. The first round of words we use comes from the list that is sent out to schools. But the second round comes from an English language dictionary which students don't have the same advantage of studying from like the list, which gets really interesting," Brand said. Other Colfax students like Garren O'Keefe, who beat the rest of his six-grade class with "continuous." O'Keefe's spelling success didn't follow last year's second place in the school competition, but he held his own until the fifth round. A total of 10 students – in grades fourth through eighth – participated in Colfax Elementary's own spelling bee. As students won their class spelling bee, they advanced to the school-wide competition. The best speller from Colfax could advance to the California Central Valley Spelling Bee at the Scottish Rite Center in Sacramento in March if they pass the second phase, a written exam. The winners and representatives for each class were Molly Wilson and Dylan Colon, in the fourth grade; Jacob Colon and Hailey Hickey, fifth grade; Mariah Martin and Garren O'Keefe, sixth grade; Jared Skillen, Ray Reyna and Brenden Wilkins, seventh grade; and Kelcy Howeth, eighth grade.During the first round, words like "basketball" came easily to fourth-grader Molly Wilson. This year was Molly's first attempt at a spelling bee, and even though she didn't make it out of the second round, she plans on returning next year. As the bee progressed, words became more difficult: trampoline, catastrophe, differentiate and fascination. The winning word was "expedition," with which eighth-grader Kelcey Howeth beat out fifth-grader Jacob Colon and was named Colfax Elementary Spelling Bee champion. The next phase for Kelcey is passing the written exam. Kelcey said the test was really hard, and she is not sure how she scored, but it's been a fun process up to this point. Kelcey is fascinated by math, science and reading. "I really like to read a lot, especially the Percy Jackson series," Kelcey said. Over the summer she attended a science camp at the University of California, Davis, sponsored by the Soroptimist Club of Colfax, and was picked as one of five students to take geometry at Colfax High School. Upper class language arts teacher Joan Griffith emceed the event. This is Griffith's fifth year of running the bee with help from Barbara Wood and Katie Karlberg. All students agreed that reading was one of their favorite pastime activities. According to Griffith, this year's bee stands out from her past experiences."This was one of the most interesting bee's in a long time because the students were so well matched. All the ages did really well and that's what made it interesting," Griffith said.The National Spelling Bee dates back to 1925. In 1988, Rageshree Ramachandran, from Churchill Middle School in Sacramento, won the national title, bringing home the trophy. The winner of the National Spelling Bee receives a cash prize of $30,000, as well as a $5,000 scholarship and other prizes.Colfax Elementary students have participated in approximately 20-plus spelling bees and sent one student to the Sacramento Bee competition several years ago.