Fourth Grader from Greencastle, IN, Headed to Scripps National Spelling Bee

On the first day of Spring Break 2011, while his classmates were watching cartoons or heading to Florida for some fun in the sun, nine-year-old Addison Hughes of Greencastle, IN, had a weightier subject on his mind. The fourth grade student from South Putnam Central Elementary School got up early that morning, hopped in the van with his parents and grandparents, and drove to Terre Haute to participate in the regional spelling bee. Although this was Hughes' first foray into spelling bees, he was able to navigate the dangerous waters inhabited by 24 other spelling sharks, many of them five years his senior, to bring home the title and earn a trip to the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C.

Team Effort I
Hughes earned his berth in the Tribune-Star Wabash Valley Regional Spelling Bee by recording a perfect score during the Spell Bowl competition held at his school last November. The Spell Bowl is a team-based competition that pits several schools against each other in regional competitions and then ranks the squads overall at the state level based on their team scores. During the Spell Bowl, each team member gets a chance at the team's spelling table, where a pronouncer delivers seven words orally, and the speller must write those words correctly. Hughes' Eagles team didn't quite prevail in their match-up with local schools, but Addison's performance allowed him to move on to the regional spelling bee.

Team Effort II
With the local Spell Bowl event in his rear view mirror, Addison turned his attention to the regional spelling bee, which would be his first attempt at oral spelling competition. When asked how he prepared for the great unknown of the looming bee, Addison was quick to point out that his mother had spent countless hours taking him through his paces in helping him to learn the nearly 1500 words which would be fair game on the day of the contest. Grabbing every free moment before and after school each day, and even on the weekend, the Hughes family would pour through online dictionaries to nail down correct definitions, pronunciations, and etymology of the sometimes unrecognizable words.

'o - c - e - l ...'
After eighteen nail-biting rounds of spelling, Hughes stood before the microphone and received the word that could deliver him and his family to the nation's capital for the Big Bee on Memorial week. The pronouncer said "ocelot," and Addison delivered a calm, cool, correct spelling that gained nods from the judges and a howl from the audience. Addison jumped for joy and was caught in the air and swung around by his father.

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At long last, Addison Hughes was free to enjoy his Spring Break, unfettered by the specter of yet another of the twice-weekly word lists that had dominated his world for five months. Of course, after a brief respite, he was set to tackle a huge tome of new vocables, in deference to the upcoming National Spelling Bee. As Addison tells it, there truly is no rest for the wordy.