Scripps National Spelling Bee

WASHINGTON, D.C. - E-q-u-i-v-a-l-e-n-t spelled relief for a Hagerstown teenager Wednesday. Damien Clipp, 14, was asked to spell the word during the first round of the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C. After answering correctly, the E. Russell Hicks Middle School eighth-grader said he was relieved. He didn't fare as well on a written test, and therefore didn't qualify to move on to the second round of competition. Another Tri-State-area student, Jackson Taylor Montgomery of Martinsburg, W.Va.

HAGERSTOWN As a sixth-grader, he was sick the day his class held a spelling bee. He didn't get to compete in seventh grade, either. But this year, as an eighth-grader, Damien Clipp participated in his first spelling bee and made it all the way to the national competition. He was confident competing against his classmates and students countywide. But the 14-year-old Hagerstown resident says he doesn't know how he'll fare Wednesday against the best spellers in the country.

Today we applaud Steven Wolfe, a Grace Academy eighth grader, for making it through two rounds of the Scripps National Spelling Bee this week. To get that far by correctly spelling words that many people have never heard of is a great achievement indeed. Wolfe, 14, won the 26th Annual Washington County Spelling bee in March by spelling "synapse. " According to the judge's list, that word means "the locus at which the nervous impulse passes from the axon of one neuron to the dendrites of another.

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- He watched some girls grab their hair, and a few boys sigh in frustration. For more than an hour, he sat in the back row calmly, with his hands folded over one another. Charles Smith was not worried. The Hancock Middle-Senior High School student knew the words the other children were being asked to spell. Gosling. Rew. No problem, he thought. Though, he admitted, he was a bit nervous. After all, it was the 13-year-old's first time competing in the annual Scripps National Spelling Bee. Two hundred and eighty-eight students -- the largest number of spellers in the event's history -- competed in the first round Thursday in Washington, D.C. Charles, an eighth-grader from Hancock, was not among the 90 spellers who advanced beyond the preliminary round Thursday.

Did you know that the word "oligodactylism" means a deficiency of fingers or toes? We'd bet most people don't. But confronted with an unfamiliar word, most people would be able to look it up. Not the participants in the Scripps National Spelling Bee. They must spell each word from memory, or use their knowledge of language to puzzle out whatever odd word they've been assigned to spell. Thirteen-year-old Blaine Ford on Boonsboro knew that "dactyl" meant finger or toe, but didn't know the longer word.

karenh@herald-mail.com WASHINGTON, D.C. - Five letters. Two syllables. For Grace Academy eighth-grader Steven Wolfe, the task of spelling the word meaning a nine-instrument or nine-performer composition might have been just a little too easy. "I don't remember studying it. I thought it would be a little harder than that," Steven, 14, said Wednesday after he misspelled "nonet" in the first oral round of the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C. Steven spelled the word "nonette.

Spelling bee Saint Mary Catholic School student Jessica Swarner will attend the Scripps National Spelling Bee this week in Washington, D.C. Jessica was the highest scorer in Saint Mary's eighth-grade class and advanced to the county spelling bee. She took first place and earned a spot in the national competition. Her father will be accompanying her. TOPS 77 On May 18, TOPS (Take Off Pounds Sensibly) Chapter 77 heard Cleo Burger lead the program on obesity.

karenh@herald-mail.com SMITHSBURG - If you needed a word that meant a little mix of nervous and excited, Steven Wolfe could be the dictionary definition. Steven, 14, is preparing to compete in this year's Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C. "I'm excited," Speller No. 107 said by telephone last week from his home near Smithsburg. Steven, who won the 26th Annual Washington County Spelling Bee in March, and 272 other spellers were scheduled to register Sunday for the start of bee week.

o Jessica has been talking about her experiences at the spelling bee on her Twitter feed. Follow her updates here. o For up-to-the-minute results of the spelling bee and more information about the competitors, go to www.spellingbee.com . WASHINGTON -- It's likely Jessica Swarner can spell the word "superstitious. " On Wednesday, as she competed for the top spelling prize in the nation, Jessica kept a rosary, a horseshoe-shaped pin and a bag full of trinkets near her. The Hagerstown resident wore the same jewelry she was wearing when she won the Washington County Spelling Bee -- a green heart necklace and a bracelet her sister had given her for Christmas.

scottb@herald-mail.com When Blaine Ford of Boonsboro heard the word "oligodactylism" during the first oral round of the 77th annual Scripps National Spelling Bee on Wednesday he knew he had a problem. "I didn't have a clue," Blaine, 13, said. He knew that "dactyl" meant finger or toe, but he said he was unfamiliar with the longer version of the word, which means a deficiency of fingers or toes. He said he took a guess and spelled it "aligodactylism. " He was off by one vowel.