Gray sails to win at PIMS spelling bee
By Scott Mitchell Johnson
Staff Writer
PRESQUE ISLE — “S-C-H-O-O-N-E-R.” That’s the word that 13-year-old Sam Gray spelled correctly Jan. 5 to win the title of 2012 Presque Isle Middle School Spelling Bee Champion.
“When I heard the word ‘schooner,’ I pretty much knew I was going to win … it wasn’t that bad of a word. Last year Mr. [Kevin] Sipe taught us a bunch of Latin roots and prefixes, so I knew it from there. I knew not to put an “a-h” at the end of it like ‘schoonah,’” joked Gray. “I’m pretty good at spelling. It comes pretty easy to me.”
In sixth grade, Gray was his classroom winner making him eligible to compete in the school bee, and last year he was the runner-up in the school spelloff.
Photo courtesy of Presque Isle Middle School
SAM GRAY, an eighth-grader at PIMS, claimed the title of 2012 school Spelling Bee Champion by correctly spelling the word “schooner” at the Jan. 5 spelloff. As the school winner, Gray will receive a trophy and a free PowerspeaK12 foreign language course, and his name will also be placed on the plaque that hangs in the library. Gray and the school’s runner-up, sixth-grader Olivia Mosher, will compete in the County Spelling Bee, which will be held Friday, Feb. 10 at 6 p.m. in the University of Maine at Fort Kent’s Fox Auditorium.
While some students may get rattled being on stage under a spotlight, Gray takes it all in stride.
“I’m not really overconfident or underconfident; I’m just kind of in the middle,” he said. “I listen to the word, try to relax and separate myself from everything else. I try to focus on a few different places in the room. It’s not even a process; you just think how to spell it and spell it. I don’t get too jittery about it.”
Classroom winners were given a list of 100 study words to help them prepare for the actual spelling bee.
“It’s a pretty good combination of lists with words from different origins to give kids exposure to Arabic words, Greek words, Latin words or old English words,” said bee mistress Julie Gardner, who also teaches eighth-grade English and social studies.
Gray said he looked at the study words “a little bit,” but plans to prepare more for the County bee that will be held next month.
“It’s kind of hard … we have projects and tests and everything else … plus I’m on the basketball team, so you have to not procrastinate. I have a work ethic; if I start doing something then I’ll get it done that night, but if I don’t start it, it will take a while for me to get started,” he said. “If I study the words for a few nights then I’ll probably just keep studying.”
The son of Sarah Ellsworth and Brian Gray said his parents were a little surprised when he told them he was the school winner.
“My Mom picked me up from school and I got in the car and told her that I had won the spelling bee and she kind of looked at me funny for a second,” laughed Gray. “My Dad always jokes about how my brain is always on girls and sports and that it atrophied over the summer; he knew I could win but was just trying to figure out how I won. My parents were both very happy though that I won.”
Other words Gray spelled correctly advancing him to the championship round included “punctual,” “vegetarian,” “muscular,” “audience,” “altogether,” “acrobat,” “midriff” and “genius.”
As the school winner, Gray will receive a trophy and a free PowerspeaK12 foreign language course, and his name will also be placed on a plaque that hangs in the library.
Also competing in the school spelling bee were sixth-graders Mason Antworth, Natalie Bates, Olivia Mosher, Kayla Thibodeau, Emma Willette and Everett Zuras, seventh-graders Hannah Chalou, Ryan Cochran, Gavin Kelley, Nichole Sharp, Emma O’Connell and Madelyn Wing, and eighth-graders Brandon Collins, Jillian Flynn, Connor Murchison, Cole Staples and Kassidy Voisine.
Mosher was the school’s runner-up and will compete in the County bee, as well. She and Gray will both receive a free, one-year subscription to Kids.Britannica.com.
Judges of the PIMS spelling bee included Elaine Hendrickson, Dianne Leavitt and Gail Hagelstein.
Nearly a dozen schools will be represented at the County Spelling Bee, which will be held Friday, Feb. 10 at 6 p.m. in the University of Maine at Fort Kent’s Fox Auditorium. The winner of the County bee will advance to the state bee Saturday, March 17 at 2 p.m. at the University of Southern Maine’s Hannaford Hall.
