• Contact Us
  • Events calendar
Entering Swellesley
Pinnacle, Wellesley

The Swellesley Report

More than you really want to know about Wellesley, Mass.

  • Advertise
  • Contribute
  • Eat
  • Wellesley Square
  • School
  • Top 10 things to do
  • Embracing diversity
  • Charities/Community
  • Arts
  • Camp
  • Kids
  • Environment/Sustainability
  • Events
  • About us
  • Subscribe
  • Natick Report
  • COVID-19
  • Letters to the Editor
  • Bulletin Board
Needham Bank, Wellesley
Boston Sports Institute, Wellesley

Health Advances once again wins Wellesley Education Foundation Spelling Bee

November 15, 2018 by Deborah Brown Leave a Comment

Wellesley Spelling Bee
Congratulations to winning team Health Advances. Left to right, Master of Ceremonies Mike Dowling, Valerie Enriquez, Melissa Lowder, and Laura Gullett.

 

Team Health Advances did it in 2015 with the word “threnody” (definition: a song, hymn, or poem of mourning composed as a memorial to a dead person. Also a fictional character created by Marvel Comics for the X-Men series).

Last night, Health Advances once more took home the coveted Wellesley Education Foundation Spelling Bee trophy by beating out the six other teams that made it to the Final Round. Winners Melissa Lowder (her second time on the Bee podium), Laura Gullett, and Valerie Enriquez out-spelled them all with the word adactylous, a medical term that means being without fingers or toes. The ability to spell is not affected by this condition.

55 teams studied joined in on the fundraiser, which raised over $63,000 to provide enrichment programs for the Wellesley Public Schools. Some teams study, stress, and fret for weeks, determined to at least make it to the final round. Other teams glance through the study book a few times but mostly just sit back and enjoy the fun. Each team of three competitors pays a $500 fee to compete.

Wellesley Spelling Bee
Um, that’s not the way you spell Elwy. Oops.

 

On the big night, there are seven rounds of about eight teams of three spellers, who collaborate as a team on each word. Each team prints its version of the word on a whiteboard within 25 seconds, and holds it up for the judges. This year’s sharp-eyed team was Superintendent David Lussier; Joan Dabrowski, Assistant Superintendent of Teaching and Learning; and WMS Principal Mark Ito. WHS Principal Jamie Chisum kept the time clock and worked the gong.

If a team misspells the word, the team is eliminated. The last team to spell a word correctly in a particular round is declared the winner of that round. Winning teams of the seven Preliminary Rounds are then called for the Championship Round, and the same rules apply.

Wellesley Spelling Bee
Judges, left to right: WMS Principal Mark Ito; Joan Dabrowski, Assistant Superintendent of Teaching and Learning; Superintendent David Lussier; WHS Principal Jamie Chisum

Mike Dowling, long-time Boston sports reporter who has been working the Bee for 29 years (!), called words like phloem, fliggertigibbet, posthumous, ogive, tonsillitis, kaleidoscope, and concatenate. Teams were dropped quickly this year, with no real knock-down, drag-out spell-downs. Words were called and teams got stumped, generally within four words. The vocabulary never reached the lofty heights of last year, when teams went head-to-head with stumpers like ekistics, rocaille, swaraj, naphtha, and deltiology.

Nevertheless, the spirit was strong at the bee, as shown by Team Spirit award-winners the Freshman Class Officers team, or Scooby Doo, Shaggy, and Thelma, as everybody else knows them.

Wellesley Spelling Bee
There was no mystery as to why the Team Spirit award went to the WHS Freshman Class Officers team. Photo credit: George Roberts

My personal favorite team names: WHS Cross Country Team, eXCellent Spellers and Wellesley United Soccer Club, Game of Throw Ins. As long as we’re talking about soccer, congratulations to the WHS boys soccer team’s 3 -0 win over Lincoln-Sudbury in Wednesday’s Division 1 state semifinal.

And congratulations to all the spellers and to WEF.

Here’s Wellesley Public Media’s recording of the Bee:

print

Share

Filed Under: Education

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Linden Square, Wellesley
Fran's Flowers
Clearhaven Recovery

Tip us off…

Please send tips, photos, ideas to [email protected]
Wellesley Square ad
Wellesley, Jesamondo
Admit Fit, Wellesley
Sexton test prep
Feldman Law
Fay School, Southborough
Wellesley Theatre Project
The Moving-Pictures Company
image of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)
covid vaccine
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
Never miss a post with our free daily Swellesley Report email
Name: 
Your email address:*
Please wait...
Please enter all required fields Click to hide
Correct invalid entries Click to hide

You can subscribe for free, though we appreciate any contribution that supports our independent journalism.

Click here to read our Natick Report

Natick Report

Most Read Posts

  • Newton-Wellesley Orthopedic Walk-In—no appointment needed
  • Wellesley summer camp listings 2021 — find the experience of a lifetime
  • Wellesley Give & Take update
  • Beyond Wellesley: Swellesley goes to Eastie
  • Wellesley sports catch-up: Softball fields opening ceremony; Boston Marathon invitational #s up for grabs; Peewee AA1 hockey team wins title

Events Calendar

« April 2021 » loading...
S M T W T F S
28
29
30
31
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
1
Thu 22

Ben Franklin, The Early Years: Wellesley Historical Society online lecture

April 22 @ 7:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Sat 24

WellesleyRocks concert: Shira Doron & Patrick Hayden; Bigfoot acoustic

April 24 @ 12:00 pm - 2:00 pm
Mon 26

Virtual lab tour, pooled COVID testing

April 26 @ 6:30 pm - 7:30 pm
Wed 28

Fay School virtual information session

April 28 @ 10:00 am - 11:00 am
Wed 28

Open House at Boston Outdoor Preschool Network

April 28 @ 10:00 am - 11:00 am

Pages

  • Guidelines for Letters to the Editor
  • How to submit your flyer for the Community Bulletin Board page
  • Wellesley Community Bulletin Board
  • Wellesley coronavirus (COVID-19) updates
  • Wellesley’s 7 official scenic roads
  • Wellesley, Mass., fishing spots
  • Wellesley Choral Society
  • Wellesley College Notable Alumnae
  • Wellesley College, Wellesley, Mass.
  • Wellesley outdoor art gallery
  • Wellesley restaurants offering take-out and delivery
  • Wellesley, Massachusetts restaurant — Amarin of Thailand

Recent Comments

  • Peter Watson on Wellesley celebrates Earth Day by launching Climate Action Plan process
  • Deborah Brown on Wellesley library to open temporary location in the former Talbot’s space, and more details
  • Deborah Brown on Kitty-in-a-capsule lands in Wellesley Square
  • debra start on Kitty-in-a-capsule lands in Wellesley Square
  • Kelly on Wellesley library to open temporary location in the former Talbot’s space, and more details

Links we like

  • Great Runs
  • Jack Sanford: Wellesley's Major League Baseball Star
  • Taquitos.net
  • Tech-Tamer
  • The Wellesley Wine Press
  • Universal Hub
  • Wellesley Sports Discussion Facebook Group

Categories

  • 2021 Town Election (21)
  • Animals (389)
  • Antiques (48)
  • Art (545)
  • Beyond Wellesley (31)
  • Books (346)
  • Business (1,383)
  • Camp (3)
  • Careers/jobs (46)
  • Churches (74)
  • Clubs (211)
  • Construction (282)
  • Dump (114)
  • Education (2,923)
    • Babson College (244)
    • Bates Elementary School (14)
    • Dana Hall School (29)
    • Fiske Elementary School (6)
    • Hardy Elementary School (33)
    • Hunnewell Elementary School (34)
    • MassBay (49)
    • Schofield Elementary School (20)
    • Sprague Elementary School (19)
    • St. John School (1)
    • Tenacre Country Day School (9)
    • Upham Elementary School (30)
    • Wellesley College (600)
    • Wellesley High School (895)
    • Wellesley Middle School (195)
  • Embracing diversity (52)
  • Entertainment (729)
  • Environment (681)
  • Fashion (134)
  • Finance (13)
  • Fire (144)
  • Food (328)
  • Fundraising (565)
  • Gardens (137)
  • Government (427)
    • 2020 Town Election (47)
  • Health (762)
    • COVID-19 (154)
  • History (361)
  • Holidays (367)
  • Houses (121)
  • Humor (45)
  • Kids (821)
  • Law (3)
  • Letters to the Editor (12)
  • Media (63)
  • METCO (4)
  • Military (3)
  • Morses Pond (97)
  • Music (546)
  • Natick Report (28)
  • Neighbors (252)
  • Obituaries (62)
  • Outdoors (589)
  • Parenting (60)
  • Police (704)
    • Crime (358)
  • Politics (545)
  • Real estate (294)
  • Religion (127)
  • Restaurants (306)
  • Safety (143)
  • Scouts (1)
  • Senior citizens (111)
  • Shopping (123)
  • Sports (907)
  • STEM (107)
  • Technology (159)
  • Theatre (383)
  • Town Meeting (22)
  • Transportation (212)
  • Travel (12)
  • Uncategorized (1,212)
  • Volunteering (320)
  • Weather (169)
  • Wellesley Election 2019 (21)
  • Wellesley Free Library (260)
  • Wellesley's Wonderful Weekend (5)
RSS Feed Icon Subscribe to RSS Feed

© 2021 The Swellesley Report
Site by Tech-Tamer · Login