The first annual Public Relations Student Society of America Spelling Bee kicked off Wednesday night in Lawrence Hall, where students and professors came to bravely display and challenge their spelling abilities.
The contest began with students competing against each other for a chance to face a journalism professor in the final round.
Professors in attendance were Tiffany Gallicano, grammar guru Tracy Miller, and John Russial, who had also participated in a national spelling bee in 1965.
It was a rocky start for some students, who were eliminated in the first round with words like “khaki” and “haggard.” While some closed their eyes, looked at the ceiling or took several minutes to answer, others looked confident and responded promptly. Journalism students Jamie Slade and Marcella Lentini advanced to the final round of the student portion.
PRSSA members Drew Metzger and Lauren Switzer were the emcees of the event, and the two provided an element of comedy to the intense night of competitive spelling. Metzger and Switzer offered contestants additional information along with each word, such as the word’s use in a sentence, the definition of the word and the word’s country of origin.
Metzger delivered the word “belligerence” to one of the contestants and was stumped when he was asked the country of origin. However, his witty response left the
audience laughing.
“Belligerence … well, I’m not sure of the country of origin for this one, but it must be Irish,” Metzger said.
Lentini won the student portion of the spelling bee with the word “recalcitrant.” She said her mechanism for spelling words out loud is her ability to use her memory.
“I can memorize almost anything that I see really well,” Lentini said. “I saw the word on paper before, and I was just picturing the way that it looked when I saw it. I never thought I would win the student round; I was actually just planning on watching.”
For the next round, the three journalism professors present battled it out for the chance to face student champion Lentini. As Miller, Russial and Gallicano took the stage, the pressure was on to not let their students down. Gallicano was the first to get knocked out with the word “finesse,” and Miller later fell victim to the word “promiscuous.” That left national spelling bee participant and professor Russial to compete against Lentini.
Lentini and Russial competed for the grand prize of a $20 dollar gift card to the Duck Store. Russial delivered his responses quickly with no hesitation, while Lentini was more cautious with her letters. After spelling two words correctly, Lentini was eliminated from the finals by the word “chlorophyll,” and Russial became the very first PRSSA Spelling Bee winner.
Lentini, a PRSSA member, said she thought of the idea to hold a spelling bee open to all students and faculty because she remembers her very first spelling bee in grammar school.
“I wanted to do this because I will always remember the first word that got me out, and it was ‘restaurant.’ Even now, years later when I write that word I remember the spelling bee,” Lentini said. “I thought it would be something fun to do, and it’s an event people will remember.”
Russial said spelling is something that he really enjoys.
“I like to spell, but it is so different now. Kids today, they know so many words it is just outrageous,” Russial said. “I was in a national spelling bee in Washington in 1965, so I guess I am a good speller. But even people who are really good at spelling look things up; I know I do.”
PRSSA member Katelyn Mashburn said the event was a great way to intermingle with the campus community.
“The whole idea is to connect students and faculty within the University in a fun way to get together after the holidays. Everyone enjoys a little friendly competition,” Mashburn said.
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