Charlotte Observer, The (NC)
1995-03-04
Section: METRO
Edition: ONE - FOUR
Page: 1C
The bell rang at 11:30 a.m. and Round 8 - the killer round -ended. The crowd wasn't sure how to react at the 41st annual Charlotte Observer Regional Spelling Bee.
Moderator Don King's hand shot up. A conference was called in the right corner of the Duke Power Theatre stage at Spirit Square. Seven of the eight spellers still on stage had been knocked out of the competition. The audience waited. . . . It was unanimous. Megan Chappell, 13, of Montgomery County Public Schools would win the 1995 competition if she could correctly spell one more word.
Stepping up to the microphone, Megan, an East Middle School student, carried the weight of being last year's regional winner. ``It was more nerve-wracking than last time because everybody at my school and everybody back home expected me to win again,'' she said.
Megan can go back to the seventh grade smiling. It didn't psych her out when pronouncer Dean Smith asked her to spell hallucinatory. Megan had won again.
It took three more rounds for David Withers, 14, an eighth-grader at East Lincoln Middle School, to secure second place. He correctly spelled epidermis.
``I was really nervous. I was shaking up there but every time I got a word right I felt a little bit better,'' said David. He also represents Lincoln County in the state MathCounts competition, and spent the week studying for back-to-back competitions.
``I want to go to college and become an orthopedic surgeon. . . . I want to help people,'' David said.
David and Megan said they believe reading regularly has helped them become good spellers. Aside from being a computer scientist, Megan hopes to write books one day.
The third-place winner was Jennifer Huneycutt, 12, of Millingport Elementary School in Stanly County.
A total of 39 champion spellers from schools in 23 counties competed.
Megan received a trip for two to the National Spelling Bee in Washington this spring, a Webster's International Dictionary and a $50 savings bond.
David's prizes included the book or CD-ROM version of Encyclopaedia Britannica and an electronic version of Webster's Collegiate Dictionary.
Jennifer received a compact disc player and Scripps Howard Dictionary of Cultural Literacy.
Judges were Chris Folk, formerly of Charlotte-Mecklenburg schools, and Anne Spenner, assistant metro editor of The Observer.
1995-03-04
Section: METRO
Edition: ONE - FOUR
Page: 1C
WINNING WORD AT SPELLING BEE: 'HALLUCINATORY'
DEBORAH PARKHILL MULLIS, Staff Writer
Moderator Don King's hand shot up. A conference was called in the right corner of the Duke Power Theatre stage at Spirit Square. Seven of the eight spellers still on stage had been knocked out of the competition. The audience waited. . . . It was unanimous. Megan Chappell, 13, of Montgomery County Public Schools would win the 1995 competition if she could correctly spell one more word.
Stepping up to the microphone, Megan, an East Middle School student, carried the weight of being last year's regional winner. ``It was more nerve-wracking than last time because everybody at my school and everybody back home expected me to win again,'' she said.
Megan can go back to the seventh grade smiling. It didn't psych her out when pronouncer Dean Smith asked her to spell hallucinatory. Megan had won again.
It took three more rounds for David Withers, 14, an eighth-grader at East Lincoln Middle School, to secure second place. He correctly spelled epidermis.
``I was really nervous. I was shaking up there but every time I got a word right I felt a little bit better,'' said David. He also represents Lincoln County in the state MathCounts competition, and spent the week studying for back-to-back competitions.
``I want to go to college and become an orthopedic surgeon. . . . I want to help people,'' David said.
David and Megan said they believe reading regularly has helped them become good spellers. Aside from being a computer scientist, Megan hopes to write books one day.
The third-place winner was Jennifer Huneycutt, 12, of Millingport Elementary School in Stanly County.
A total of 39 champion spellers from schools in 23 counties competed.
Megan received a trip for two to the National Spelling Bee in Washington this spring, a Webster's International Dictionary and a $50 savings bond.
David's prizes included the book or CD-ROM version of Encyclopaedia Britannica and an electronic version of Webster's Collegiate Dictionary.
Jennifer received a compact disc player and Scripps Howard Dictionary of Cultural Literacy.
Judges were Chris Folk, formerly of Charlotte-Mecklenburg schools, and Anne Spenner, assistant metro editor of The Observer.
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