County champ spells

his way to national finals
By Caroline Monday
cmonday@mountaintimes.com

Green Valley eighth grader Baron Fenwick is a w-i-n-n-e-r.

He walked away from this weekend’s Winston-Salem Journal Regional Spelling Bee with first prize, beating out 32 competitors, and will compete in the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C. in May.

Fenwick competed in the regional spelling bee after winning the countywide spelling bee, held earlier this year.

The experience, Fenwick said, “was really nerve wracking.”

He said it was different from the county bee, in that he did not know his competition and their spelling skills.

However, early in the competition, some students misspelled words Fenwick said he knew how to spell, making him more comfortable.

This competition was different also in the degree of difficulty.

Fenwick said he was asked to spell several words that he had never heard of before.

“Some were impossibly hard,” Fenwick said.

In the first three rounds, 10 competitors were eliminated, misspelling words like “prodigal,” “etymology” and “concerto.” After three more rounds, only five spellers were left.

In order to win a spelling bee, the final contestant must correctly spell two more consecutive words than the first runner up.

This means if everyone misspells their word in a single round, they are not eliminated.

If only one person were to correctly spell their word in a round and then go on to misspell the next word, the competitors from the previous round would have a chance to spell again.

Fenwick said, toward the end of the competition, this situation is exactly what happened.

Though Fenwick did misspell words in the bee, his competitors did also on those rounds, making it so no one was eliminated.

In the end, the Watauga student came out on top, correctly spelling “mordancy” (a biting and caustic style) and “depauperate” (describing habitats with little biodiversity).

Fenwick said he did not know the definition of either of those words, but asked for the definition of each word presented to him before spelling them, whether he knew the definition or not.

This strategy is one he employed during the county bee, and one he intends to take on to nationals.

Fenwick said he plans to add to that strategy by also asking for a word’s language of origin.

The Scripps National Spelling Bee will be held in Washington, D.C., on May 29 and 30.

Fenwick said he has already started studying for the national bee, though he is more excited about the trip to Washington than the nerve racking competition itself.