First-Ever Adult Spelling Bee Generating Much Support

Participants in the first-ever adult spelling bee are gearing up for a night of fun and wordplay.

Hosted by the Southington Education Foundation, the bee will raise approximately $6,300 for the funding of educational grants for enrichment activities within the school system, said the foundation's  vice-chairman Dawn Miceli.

Each three member team had to raise $300 each to participate in the bee, which will take place Thursday, June 16 at 7 p.m. at Southington High School.

So far at least 21 teams have signed on to compete, with members from all types of community groups preparing to out-spell the other.

"We have representatives from many of the schools, two board of education teams, a group from New England Bank, Town Council members, it's been a great response," said foundation treasurer Alan DeBisschop said. "We've even had donations from businesses like Lowe's and Home Depot for the large blocks to be placed on stage. The community has been very supportive."

The concept of the bee is to have teams of three work together to spell a word given by bee master and Channel 3 News anchor Al Terzi.

The team will write the word on a white board and present it to judges including Superintendent Joseph V. Erardi Jr. Each team will compete against each other until the last team standing. DeBisschop said at first people were leery to compete in a public spelling contest but when they understood the team concept, most were enthusiastic.

"The whole idea is to have fun, there's no humiliation or embarrassment," DeBisschop said.

"It's just so up our alley in terms of what we do at the Southington Education Foundation, because we want to fund innovative, creative programming, so I think it's great our fundraisers are innovative as well," Miceli said.

Aside from brushing up on their word skills, Miceli said participants are becoming enthusiastic about the big event. Many teams like the ladies auxiliary are bringing their own 'cheering sections' to root them on during the evening. The winning team will receive a 3 foot trophy and 'bragging rights' until next year.

All monies generated will go directly to the next round of grants allocated throughout the school system. Last month the foundation donned out nearly $10,000 in grant money to the schools, chosen by teachers applying for projects or activities not normally funded by the board of education.