Kristen invited me to middle school at 8:30 am on Thursday to watch Jared in the 6th, 7th, and 8th grade spelling bee.

Jared is in 6th grade.

First thing I had to do was stop by the office for a visitor pass.

The judges, officials, and teachers were checking to see if each student had arrived. If any had not arrived by the deadline time, there were substitutes.

Jared was #3 on the left side of the stage – with red sneakers.

Instructions

Notice the dreaded bell on the desk in front of the middle judge.

The man who called the words and gave their descriptions.

Listening to his final instructions

Very easy words were used for the practice round.

Jared got: row

This round was to give them a feel of what would be happening and did not count.

When each student went to the podium, the next student in line stood up.

Jayden was the only other student I knew.

She is the daughter of Keith and Janelle Fahnestock.

Listening to a word being spelled.

Round 1:wear

Round 2: riddle

Round 3. Listening to Speller #1

Jared’s word was: elderly

Round 4 – Jared is next. His word was: bemused.

Round 5: thicket

Round 6: varsity

Round 7: epithets

This is when the words became difficult and all but four students were eliminated.

These four will go to the next level at Conestoga Valley Middle School later this month.

Jared was first and correctly spelled: burglarious.

The next three students missed their words.

To be the Manheim Central champion, Jared had to spell two more words.

• If he missed, these four students would go through the same process again.

By now Kristen and I were quite nervous. Jared later told us that he was nervous too.

Neutron – he got it!

Catastrophic – he nailed it!

He’s Manheim Central’s champ!

Jared with the officials.

With his proud grandma

With his very proud mama

~~~

Congratulations, Jared! Grandpa and I are anxious to see how you do in the next level at Conestoga Valley.