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Top competitors in yesterday's Regional Spelling Bee stretch contest to 38 rounds Date published: 3/14/2010
Thirty-eight rounds.
That's how long it took home-schooled eighth-grader Matthew Zisi to win the Regional Spelling Bee held yesterday in Fredericksburg. For the final 22 rounds, Matthew and seventh-grader Yanni Fallon engaged in a war of spelling attrition, each knocking off words that had adults in the audience shaking their heads. Sixteen students from the city and surrounding counties participated in yesterday's contest, held at James Monroe High School and sponsored by The Free Lance-Star. A little perspective: Nearly 30,000 area youngsters participated in competitions feeding into the regional bee, and all 16 who made it to the James Monroe stage had won a division-level bee or its equivalent. There are no easy words at the Regional Spelling Bee, and in the early rounds spellers stumbled on such challenges as "mirage," "chronic," "renovate" and "androcentric," the practice of placing men at the center of one's world view. The three blasted through such words as "paradox," "libretto," "castanets," "machismo," "ergonomic" and "beleaguer" before Sophie tripped on "provolone." For the next 30 minutes it was just Matthew and Yanni, locked in a spelling back-and-forth that emphasized their differing styles. Matthew was deliberate. For almost every word he was given he asked the pronouncer, Free Lance-Star Editor Ed Jones, the language of origin, the definition or for use in a sentence. Yanni simply pronounced the word back to Jones to make sure he'd heard correctly, then spelled with confidence. Round 17: Matthew, "poltergeist." Yanni, "samurai." Round 22: Matthew, "mariachi." Yanni, "angstrom," which is a unit of measurement for the length of light waves. Round 30: Matthew, "verboten." Yanni, "precipice." Finally, in Round 37, Yanni tripped on "hollandaise" after Matthew's correct spelling of "metamorphosis." Matthew had to spell one last word to win, and when Jones pronounced the Round 38 word "alkali," Matthew couldn't suppress a grin. As he pronounced the last letter in "A-L-K-A-L-I," you could almost hear an exclamation point. Afterward, Free Lance-Star Associate Publisher Nick Cadwallender pointed out that it was just bad luck that threw the unfamiliar "hollandaise" in Yanni's path. "You are an incredible speller," Cadwallender told Yanni. "If not for that one word, we would have been here another hour." Associate Publisher Florence Barnick then loaded Matthew up with prizes including an unabridged dictionary and an oversize check for $1,500. The newspaper will also pay expenses for 13-year-old Matthew and his family--mom Jeanine, dad Christopher and sister Victoria, 11--to go to the Scripps National Spelling Bee to be held June 2-4 in Washington. Afterward, Matthew was all smiles as he accepted congratulations and handshakes from audience members. He credited prayer and preparation for his win. He said he studied every word in the "Spell It!" book published by the Scripps national bee to help youngsters prepare for competition. Besides spelling, Matthew enjoys studying history and playing piano and violin. Laura Moyer: 540/374-5417
Date published: 3/14/2010
to both these young men. They represented their schools well, both Walker-Grant Middle School (a public school) and the homeschool.
You have made the home schooling families proud!!
Homeschoolers get to pray in their classrooms and are proud of it! Way to go Matthew- !!!! Keep up the good works and prayers!!!!!!
What an amazing young man you are! What an awesome representative of all of us who home school our kids!
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