2 Wisconsin spellers headed to the national bee

The 13-year-old eighth grader from Eisenhower Middle School in New Berlin has competed in local and state spelling bees for the past four years, and the keys to his success have remained consistent: his family and root words. In the months leading up to the competition Saturday afternoon at Madison College’s Mitby Theater, his parents studied with him for hours, and he has maintained a particular focus on the sources of words, their origins.

“I’m feeling great. I feel like all the effort I put in — it’s paid off,” Robert said, clutching his trophy. “My parents helped get it started, and I’ve never looked back since.”

With four spellers left in the 14th round of the bee, Robert correctly spelled "katydid," an insect, and the champion word “analphabet,” which is a person who does not know the alphabet, to win the bee.

A lot of the battle, Robert said, is in decoding, parsing out which root languages came together to form a word and what exactly it’s referring to. When he’s onstage with his number plate on, the letters seem to materialize in front of his eyes, owing to his hard-earned command of language. Last year, he took second place in the state bee and tied for 10th place in the national bee.

“I’m really excited to go compete again at the national stage,” he said. “I’m just really glad I won this — all my effort has paid off.”

Robert will be joined by runner-up Arnav Vempati, an eighth grader at Kromrey Elementary School in Middleton, at the DAR Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C., for the Scripps National Spelling Bee May 26-28.

Vempati correctly spelled "ossificatory" after the third-place finisher, Shanyu Chandana from Onalaska, incorrectly spelled "protozoan" in the 19th round of the bee.

Spellers aced words like "aguaji" (pronounced agua-HEE), "dysautonomia," "octuplicate" and "prosody." Spellers missed words like "foppery," "viridity," "marasmus," "dansant" and "pergelisol."

Pregame festivities

The smoke started rising off the grill around 11:30 a.m. in the parking lot across from Madison College’s Mitby Theater. People dumped condiments on brats, tossed soft footballs and practiced under the merciful March sun. The event was soundtracked by members of the Madison College Performing Arts Group, who sang songs from “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.”

Tailgates have historically been reserved for athletes, but in Madison, we celebrate our local scholars the same way we do our linebackers and wrestlers. We also come dressed for the occasion.

Alex Lammers led the charge Saturday, his bright green hair complemented by his forest green dress. Lammers came from Sheboygan, cheered on by a gaggle of family members. Lammers boasts a laundry list of academic achievements, but spelling in particular has always come naturally, he said.

“I’ve just been able to spell words before I even knew the meaning of them. I’ve been able to spell and pronounce them, just guessing,” Lammers said.

Ahead of the bee, his mother, Jasmine Lammers, kept him entertained with a set of sabers, stage combat weaponry she pulled from the trunk of her vehicle. Lammers has a number of hobbies relating to the combat gear, and encourages her kids to pursue their own interests in any way possible.

“I like to encourage my kids to do whatever it is they want to do, and I would want to just be there for them when they have special events,” Lammers said. “You want to make sure that your kid enjoys themself. Whatever they enjoy, you enjoy too.”

Original runner-up

There are two r’s in “occurrence,” a fact that has haunted Jim McNeill since 1949, when his omission of the second “r'“ cost him a victory at the inaugural Wisconsin state spelling bee. Saturday morning, the original runner-up, now 88, held court in the parking lot of Madison College’s Mitby Theater.

“It’s a great experience, the spelling bee. You get to meet other people that are like-minded with you and people that are interested in learning, so it’s a fun experience,” McNeill said.

The kids of today learn their root words from tablets and computers. McNeill practiced in a one-room school in Iowa County.

“There’s not many of us left from those first spelling bees,” he said. “It’s come a long way. I’m not even in the same zip codes with these kids today, some terrific spellers.”

The microphone bobbed like a slide whistle, rising and falling with the varying height of each speller. Three hours of definitions, parts of speech and sentence usage thinned out the group of 52 spellers to just a handful. By 3 p.m., the tension in the auditorium bubbled like the bratwurst that had been served in the parking lot earlier that day.

McNeill didn’t have a horse in the race; however, he’s been working with his great-grandkids on their spelling, and he proudly reports that they’re showing “potential.”

The Wisconsin State Journal has sponsored the state spelling bee for more than 75 years, and this year was supported with help from the Wisconsin Newspaper Association and Multi Media Channels. Johnson Financial Group sponsored the tailgate. Jane McMahon directs the spelling bee program for the State Journal.

More than 200 students will compete at the Scripps National Spelling Bee May 26 through May 28 at the DAR Constitution Hall in Washington D.C. More information on the event is available at spellingbee.com.