“Let’s beat the teachers!” hollers 5th grade student, Tyler Grugel, as he climbs the stairs to take his seat across from his opponent, 5th grade teacher, Phil Dietrich. The teachers are equally, if not more competitive than the students; using every second they have to furiously review their lists of 750 words, all while boisterously cheering on their teammates.
This “Teachers versus Students” competition was just one of the ways the 4th and 5th grade Spell Club team prepared for their annual Spell Bowl competition. The competition had eight rounds, each round consisting of one student and one teacher spelling 7 words. The students spent the whole first trimester of school preparing for this; memorizing and practicing fifty to seventy- five words weekly. The words ranged from simple terms like “coral” to some doozies like “laissez- faire” and “hieroglyphic”.
Although the teachers ended up winning, the competition helped prepare the students for the actual Spell Bowl, where Myers’ scored six more points than last year, with 37 out of 56 words correct. Even though Spell Club is over for the year, students are not completely heartbroken, as many will still get the opportunity to participate in the Math Bowl competition in February, or one of the other myriad clubs offered at Myers.
Photo: Ethan Dominguez, Abigail Exl, Kylie Bruce,Paige Hawkins,coach Stephanie Meyer, Haley White, Ethan Whiteman, Tyler Gruel, Ashlee Hampton, Leonel Martinez, coach Charlie Scanlon, and Zach Szmuc