Adult Spelling Bee draws crowd to support local library
About 75 people gathered together on the patio of the Shepherdstown Public Library on Saturday night, for the Friends of the Shepherdstown Library’s (FOSL) first annual Adult Spelling Bee.
With 18 contestants of all ages, the event proved to be incredibly popular, especially for those who had been spelling bee contestants as children.
“I competed in the spelling bee when I was in seventh grade, and I lost to ‘jubilant.’ It was one of the words spelled tonight, and I made it past that round, so it felt like I finally got redemption after all these years,” said Shepherdstown resident Mina Greenfield. “I love spelling bees! I’m the announcer for the spelling bee at the elementary school I teach at in Frederick County.”
Greenfield lost at the Adult Spelling Bee, with the word, “unctuous.” She said she thought the difficulty level of the word choices was well chosen, especially as the words in the final few rounds were selected from those that had been used in the final round at the Scripps National Spelling Bee.
The winners of the Adult Spelling Bee agreed with Greenfield, that the word selections seemed both challenging and enjoyable. All three winners had made it far in their local Scripps Spelling Bees in seventh grade, though none of them had won the competition.
Mina Greenfield, of Shepherdstown, spells a word during the Adult Spelling Bee on Saturday night. Tabitha Johnston
“This was fun!” said Claire Webb, who came in second place in the competition. “I’m competitive. I love competing! I just love to win.”
According to the other two winners, there were a few things that led to their success in the competition.
“I love libraries. When I was a kid, we had a book mobile that would come by where I lived. I came once every two weeks and took out the maximum number of books that were allowed — 14 — and I read one a day,” said Phil Baker-Shenk, who came in third place.
Along with reading, first place winner Rick Ellrod noted that his knowledge of etymology had proven to be particularly helpful.
“The trick is to make lucky guesses and informed guesses,” Ellrod said. “It was a lot of fun!”
The winners of the Adult Spelling Bee were, from left: Claire Webb in second place, Rick Ellrod in first place and Phil Baker-Shenk in third place. Tabitha Johnston
The inspiration for the event was derived from a previous, popular community competition, according to FOSL Program Chair Kaitlyn Fydenkevez.
“We had some people that had participated in a spelling bee, when Alma Bea was Town Run Taphouse. People had remembered that being an easy, fun, low-stress event,” Fydenkevez said. “We’re trying to get a sense of what people want to do and what people want to see from the library, so seeing such a large group — especially in Shepherdstown — of people of all ages was incredibly encouraging!”
As the event came to a close, Fydenkevez said she thought the Adult Spelling Bee would become an annual event, to raise funds for the library.
“People had fun and I don’t think there’s anything like this happening around here,” Fydenkevez said. “It’s not the kind of event where people are going to say, ‘Not another one!'”
Shepherdstown resident Adam Booth puzzles out the spelling of a word, during the Adult Spelling Bee on Saturday. Tabitha Johnston
