Advertisement

CHESANING - All five teams from the preliminary rounds were still vying for the Great Grown-Up Spelling Bee Championship when announcer John James read the word that decided the outcome of the Bee-paraparesis, a form of partial paralysis. Four teams were eliminated from their misspelled compositions of the word and the "Rockin' Spellers" team of Big Rock Elementary staff took the trophy on February 22.

The first Great Grown-Up Spelling Bee, however, didn't experience paraparesis-audience and contestant reactions have organizers planning to move forward with a second annual Bee.

The event raised about $1200 for Chesaning Union School's libraries and raised the interest of contestants and spectators alike. Carol Somers, planning committee member, said she has received requests for a second run of the event next year.

"The turnout and response from both the community and participants were even better than we thought it would be," she said. "The teams and everything they did on stage made the night...I can say with certainty that we will do this again next year."

After a welcome and presentation of the rules by Andrew Reger and speech from host John McMurray from ABC-12 News, the competition began with its first of four "swarms." The twenty teams, each comprised of four adults or high school students, had the audience laughing with their costumes and antics-from beehive hairdos to "Word Wizards" casting spells and "All Bee Queens" presenting the judge with honey.

The champion "Rockin' Spellers" team of Holly Hemgesberg, Shauna Hemgesberg, Janet Gasper and Pat Chaberlain emerged onto the stage with rock star t-shirts and guitars from the popular Guitar Hero video game.

Holly Hemgesberg, a preschool teacher at Big Rock, said she had never heard the word paraparesis before; the team spelled the winning word as a guess.

"We were all excited [when we won], we couldn't believe it," she said. "I thought it was neat to see all the people there. There was a good turnout to support the libraries and we look forward to it next year."

The "Kahwanyss Klub Vylaige Peepel" Kiwanis Club team of Kathy Scheib, Connie Murdoch, Gayle Schwandt and Nancy Rowe were acknowledged as the most creative spellers, receiving dictionaries as their prize.

Selected audience members voted the "All Bee Queens" from Albee Elementary as the foursome with the most team spirit. The group, which included Danielle Samyn, Sue Browning, Christine Rovoll and Melissa Gorden, dressed as bees for the event and were awarded with candy-filled jars from Miss Lexie's Chocolate.

The teams combined their efforts to spell each word within thirty seconds on a white board. With four "swarms" of five teams competing, the winning team of each swarm continued on to the final round, and because of a four-way tie on the last word, the swarm winners all ranked runner-up or first place.

The "Literary Library Ladies" of Lisa Greenfelder, Michelle Kettler, Peggy Ryan and Erin Schmandt took the first swarm; Josh DeVine, Michelle Daunt, Lori Dougovito and Gabe Gutierrez on the "ABeeC-12 News" team won the second; "Rockin' Spellers" took the third swarm; and the "Word Wizards" with Sue Wolfe, Christi Schubert, LeAnne Hafner and Lynda Bell tied the "All Bee Queens" after several words without elimination in the fourth round.

"[The teams] really blew me away with what they did on stage," said Somers, "they took it a step beyond what I had envisioned."

An estimated 400 people attended the Bee on Friday night. "The audience was a nice cross-section of the community, from senior citizens and families with small children to teenagers," said Somers. "It seemed like all facets of the community came out to show their support."

Online dangers subject of March 5 Chesaning forum School district teams with US Attorney's Office for internet safety program

CHESANING - A March 5 internet safety program sponsored by Chesaning Union Schools will empower parents and community members seeking a safer online experience for their families.

The school district and professionals from the United States Attorney's Office are teaming up to help parents learn how to keep their children safe from online predators, cyber-bullies and other Internet dangers.

Child Predators: Hidden Dangers on the Internet will be held on Wednesday, March 5 at 6 p.m. in the Chesaning Middle School media center. The community forum is free and open to the public. Doors open at 5:30 p.m.

Matthew Roth, Assistant United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan, will give parents the tools and information needed to keep their children safe and secure in cyberspace.

Due to the subject matter, the program is for adults only.

The forum will contain vital information for adults living in an era when young people are frequently the technology experts in the family household. Parents from surrounding school districts are also encouraged to attend.

For more information on the forum, contact Carol Somers at (989) 661-2365.