By Emily Younker
It was down to the final two.
Emma Moore seized her opportunity when “onomastics” was misspelled by her competitor. After correctly spelling that word and then “avionics,” the sixth-grader from Southwest City Elementary School in McDonald County was declared The Joplin Globe’s 2010 spelling bee champion.
Emma seemed to be in disbelief, rooted to her spot on the stage of Missouri Southern State University’s Taylor Auditorium.
“I didn’t even study that word,” she said before bursting into tears.
Almost 100 fourth-, fifth- and sixth-graders from the Four-State Area participated Wednesday afternoon in the 33rd annual spelling bee.
The second-place winner, Nathaniel Basham, a sixth-grader from Trinity Lutheran School in Freistatt, received a trophy and $75.
Henry White, a fourth-grader from Thomas Jefferson Independent Day School in Joplin, won third place, earning a trophy and $50.
After winning the bee, Emma, who called the experience “amazing,” was joined on stage by her mother, Michelle Moore, who also was in tears.
“You are the best in the whole world,” Moore told her daughter, enveloping her in a hug.
Moore said Emma worked toward the spelling bee on her own, studying the list of words primarily by herself.
“She just did it with a plain old dictionary and with her free time,” Moore said. “I am so proud of her. Really, she’s remarkable. She always comes through.”
More remarkable than Emma’s winning, Moore said, is her “heart of gold.” She recently qualified for the upcoming McDonald County spelling bee but gave her spot to her twin sister, Chloe, so they could each compete in a bee.
Micah Butterfield, a fifth-grader at Seneca Elementary School, said during the half-hour break between rounds that she was nervous, though she had survived the first round by spelling “ringleader” correctly.
“There’s a lot of good other spellers,” she said.
Micah said she studied the word list with her mother when she had free time, and she came prepared with a strategy to help her get as far as she could.
“You have to think about the words and the letters you’re saying before you spell it,” she said. “You have to take your time.”
Micah’s mother, Cheryl, said she was proud that her daughter was representing her school in the bee.
“I want her to be proud of herself, and whatever she does, she does,” she said. “I think it’s a good experience for her to build confidence.”
Valeria Schwent, a sixth-grader at St. Lawrence Catholic School in Monett, also survived the first round, on the word “stain.” She said during the break that she was feeling “pretty good right now.”
“I just want to have fun,” she said.
David Ackiss, an English professor at Missouri Southern and the bee’s spellmaster for the past 29 years, said he returns to the bee year after year because it is fun.
“It’s fun to watch the contest from the seat I have, and I’m rooting for all the kids,” he said. “I also want to honor those kids who excel in ways that often aren’t honored in our country.”
The bee lasted just less than four hours, including a practice round and a 30-minute break. Seventeen spellers went out in the first round, which included words such as “lioness” and “qualify.”
In the second round, 35 spellers were eliminated. Words in that round included “elopement,” “abominable” and “aliveness.”
Ackiss pulled out the hardest words — such as “lachrymose” and “mimotype” — beginning in round three, during which 25 spellers left the stage.
Globe Editor Carol Stark said before the competition that spelling has gone by the wayside in the era of text messaging and Tweeting, in which participants generally abbreviate as much as possible.
“You all are already way ahead of people in life because you know how to spell,” she told the contestants.
Champion
Emma Moore, from Southwest City Elementary School, received a trophy and $100.
