Stacey-Ann Pearson of Ardenne High School, the 2005 winner of The Gleaner's Spelling Bee Championship, placed 15th yesterday at the Scripps Howard Competition in Washington D.C. More than 270 students entered the competition. - CARLINGTON WILMOT/FREELANCE PHOTOGRAPHER
JAMAICA'S 2005 Spelling Bee champion Stacey-Ann Pearson finished 15th at the 78th Scripps Howard Spelling Bee in Washington D.C. yesterday.
Stacey-Ann, who was speller 94 of the 273 competitors registered, made it all the way to Round Nine before falling out. Her first word in yesterday morning's first session was d-y-s-p-h-e-m-i-s-m, meaning to substitute a disparaging word for a less offensive one. Then, in Round Six, she got M-Y-C-E-T-O-P-H-A-G-O-U-S, which means 'feeding fungi'.
After a one-hour lunch break, Stacey-Ann then spelled C-O-L-O-P-H-O-N which is a word for 'summit' or 'finishing touch'. This put her in Round Eight where she conquered the word 'C-H-A-L-I-C-O-S-I-S' which is 'a pulmonary affection occurring among stone cutters that is caused by the inhalation of stone dust'. She finally stumbled on T-O-R-R-E-N-T-I-C-O-L-E which is 'an organism that lives in swiftly flowing water'.
Like she did in Jamaica's National Finals in February, Stacey-Ann donned a sweater to keep her warm in the cold auditorium. She appeared apprehensive at times but confidently spelled her words. After she fell out, the other spellers took the competition up to Round 18; certifying Stacey-Ann was in a tough competition.
She received warm applause from the audience for her commendable effort. This is Jamaica's highest placing since 2003 when Trudy McLeary placed third.
Anurag Kashyap of San Diego California, finally won the title with the word A-P-P-O-G-G-I-A-T-U-R-A, which is a note, not normally part of a chord, which displaces a normal note of a chord.
