Scripps National Spelling Bee

Damien Clipp's "cachet" on Saturday was leaving Western Heights Middle School as Washington County's top eighth-grade speller. Damien, an E. Russell Hicks Middle School student, correctly spelled cachet in the eighth-grade competition of the 28th annual Washington County Spelling Bee on Saturday after going 10 rounds. By winning, he earned a trip to the 2007 Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C., on May 30 and 31. The Herald-Mail Co. sponsored the county spelling bee and is sending Damien and a parent to the national competition.

HAGERSTOWN-Damien Clipp's "cachet" on Saturday was leaving Western Heights Middle School as Washington County's top eighth-grade speller. Damien, an E. Russell Hicks Middle School student, correctly spelled cachet in the eighth-grade competition of the 28th annual Washington County Spelling Bee on Saturday after going 10 rounds. By winning, he earned a trip to the 2007 Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C., on May 30 and 31. The Herald-Mail Co. sponsored the county spelling bee and is sending Damien and a parent to the national competition.

Spelling bee was an experience I'll always remember To the editor: I would like to express my sincere thanks to Ms. Dee Stevenson and The Herald-Mail for sponsoring my trip to the 2006 Scripps National Spelling Bee. The bee greatly enhanced my knowledge and appreciation of the English language, and I thoroughly enjoyed meeting other spellers from across the United States and even other countries, as well as participating in the...

WASHINGTON, D.C. To parents and friends in the audience, the words participants in the 2006 Scripps National Spelling Bee confronted might have sounded a little like neolalia. For two local students, even words "new and meaningless to the hearer" could not block early success on the stage during the first day of competition Wednesday. Eighth-graders Anna Baldasarre of Smithsburg and James Cook, who attends Charles Town (W.Va.) Middle School, spelled their first words correctly during the first round of oral competition, but recumbentibus - "a knock-down blow" - soon followed for both students.

Did you know that the word "agonal" means "of, relating to, or associated with agony and especially the death agony?" That's the definition on the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. And, when confronted with such 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. Anna Baldasarre, a 14-year-old Smithsburg Middle School student, won her trip to the national event, which begins today, by winning the Washington County bee in March.

SMITHSBURG From aardvark to zyzzogeton, the words of Scripps National Spelling Bee's official dictionary could stump even the most-practiced participant. With 2,662 pages of words and definitions, Webster's Third New International Dictionary towered above several less-intimidating study guides spread before local speller Anna Baldasarre. More than a week before the bee - which begins Wednesday - Anna, 14, and her mother and sister, Laura, 15, said they have enjoyed preparing together.

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.

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.

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.

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.