Spending an Hour Having Fun with Spelling

A total of 32 students had the courage to step in front of their Middle School peers to participate in Overlake’s annual Middle School Spelling Bee. These students had placed in previously held competitions in the various English classes.

Broken into two teams, Green versus Gold, this is just one of the many academic-minded competitions that are held in Middle School. “I think Green and Gold is designed to let kids whose interest and talents lie in all different areas contribute,” explains Mike Davidson, MS Head. “Sometimes those activities are in athletics, theater, computers, or academics. The whole point is that the span of talents that our kids have get to be a part of it.”

And while this event from the outside might look like serious business, it really is just for the students to have fun and share their knowledge of spelling with their classmates.

“There is a reason we don’t send people on to Scripps regionals and all that.  We’re not trying to win the national championships. We’re just trying to have some Green and Gold fun,” shares Davidson.

After many rounds and about 45 minutes into the Bee, it came down to one final word – uranium.

Kamya R. (’23) wasn’t actually stumped on that word. It was a word that she never had the chance to spell, thanks to a fortuitous mistake by emcee, Mr. Davidson.

“It was the word cavalcade. But then Mr. Davidson accidentally said “c” and then I didn’t need to spell that word.”

Instead Kamya went on the answer correctly the rest of the words, which included potentialities, neutron, and the winning word – uranium.

The win goes to team Green, which was behind Gold in the overall points category going into the competition.