The Buzz on the Be in the QC

O-r-t-h-o-g-r-a-p-h-y is the study of spelling. 45 school champion orthographers from across the greater Quad Cities region are registered to compete in the 42nd Annual Dispatch-Argus regional Scripps Spelling Bee sponsored by Arconic at Augustana College’s Centennial Hall at 1pm on Saturday, February 25th.

Since 1925, the National Spelling Bee has promoted literacy.  This year’s competitors, typically in grades 4-8, will grapple with more than 4,000 spelling words from Words of the Champions recommended for the school champions.  

Want to take the challenge without risking the feared “ding” of the bell knocking you out of the competition?  You can download the Word Club app to play eight spelling and word meaning games. Spellers may spend hours outside of their regular school homework to prepare for the bee. 

Our regional champion will participate in the 2023 National Scripps Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C., during the week of Memorial Day. The confidence our regional winner gained will be put to the test to project poise under pressure. Knowledge of e-t-y-m-o-l-o-g-y becomes even more important at this level as speller’s use word origin clues to discern correct spellings of their given words. Harini Logan, the 2022 National Scripps Spelling Bee champion, won after the first ever spell-off by successfully spelling 21 words in just 90 seconds!

Edith Dawson - QC Champion

Last year’s winning word at our regional bee was prehensile. Want to know what it means? As my father would have said, go look it up. Wondering what l-e-x-i-c-o-n to use? The official dictionary of the Scripps National Spelling Bee, Merriam-Webster Unabridged will help you find the answer. 

Written by Lisa Powell Williams, CTA

She is a regional Spelling Bee judge who became involved after her nephew, Kyle Skinner, won the 2016 Dispatch-Argus Bee.