Spellers from almost half of Mississippi’s counties will participate in this year’s state spelling bee.
The bee will begin at 10 a.m. March 4 in the Nissan Auditorium at the Mississippi University for Women. State Bee Coordinator Lois Kappler said 42 spellers qualified to compete this year, compared to 29 in 2022.
The registration deadline was Tuesday.
“In Mississippi we have 82 counties, and now we have (40) spellers,” Kappler said. “… I think it’s a great measurement of growth for us, and I’m very excited. … You can tell from the students’ applications that they’re academic leaders, but they’re also on basketball teams and sports-minded. They’re all just really well-rounded kids.”
Typically spellers are in third through eighth grades, but this year Kappler said there is a second-grader who won his district, beating even eighth-graders. Scripps, who sponsors the national bee, did not have an issue with it at the national level, and his parents said they want him to have the opportunity of competing in the state bee.
There will be students with accommodations for food, allergies and even speech impediments.
“We will have a child that will be using sign language for only one letter,” Kappler said. “He can’t say the letter ‘R,’ so he’ll give the letter in sign language when he’s spelling.”
When students arrive in town March 3, they will hear from last year’s state winner Jessica Widodo from Starkville, who competed in the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C. She will talk to this year’s competitors about her experience and how she handled nerves and studying.
On the morning of the bee, spellers will rotate stations to prepare for their time on stage. Stations will vary from learning about handling nerves and stage presence from Miss Mississippi Emmie Perkins, to talking about rules and practicing their first introductions with counselors.
One of the bee’s former winners, Eesh Majithia, who has aged out of the competition and moved states, will also serve as one of the three judges of the state bee, Kappler said.
As spellers are eliminated, two volunteer counselors will be on hand to talk to them.
“As students become disqualified from the spelling, instead of going (immediately) back out to the theater, they go to the ‘honey pot,’” Kappler said. “That is where the two counselors will be with snacks, water, probably even chocolate — whatever they need, they can stay in the ‘honey pot’ as long as they want. Then in groups of maybe five or six, we’ll lead spellers to the back of the theater so they can watch the rest of the bee.”
Because of money raised through donations, Mississippi’s bee sponsor The Commercial Dispatch will send two representatives to the national bee at the end of May. Both the state champion and runner-up will have a chance to compete at the nation’s capital.
“Our community has really done a wonderful job becoming part of the bee and supporting it,” Kappler said. “We’re approximately at $20,000 that has been fundraised, and that will cover the expenses of getting the spellers to Washington, D.C. Also it costs us about $10,000 to put the bee together because $6,500 of that is the filming expense to broadcast it across the state in April.”
The bee is open to the public. Kappler asks that audience members arrive by 9:30 and be seated. She expects the bee to last about two and a half hours.
WCBI will tape the bee, but due to Scripps rules, it cannot be broadcast until after April 1, after all states have held their respective bees.
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