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BY AMY DOMINELLO
Media General News Service
WASHINGTON - Baron Fenwick had never heard of the word “exsertile.”
But yesterday, as stood as a semifinalist on the stage of the 2008 Scripps National Spelling Bee, he tried to think of how the word was spelled.
The 14-year-old from Todd came close, missing by one letter. He spelled the word “E-X-C-E-R-T-I-L-E.”
Exsertile – which means capable of being thrust forth or out – may have tripped Baron up. But by then he had already beaten a lot of spellers – including 10 others from North Carolina - to make it to the semifinals.
Baron, an eighth-grader at Green Valley School in Boone, was one of 45 semifinalists. The bee started with 288 spellers Thursday. The finals aired last night on ABC.
Baron, who studied hard for the bee, said he wasn’t nervous during the semifinals, which aired on ESPN.
And he wasn’t too upset about bowing out of the bee.
“My goal was to get to the quarterfinals,” he said. “Getting to the semifinals on ESPN is just like gravy.”
Plus Baron has lots of other things to worry about. He has piano camp in a week. And in the fall, he’ll major in piano and take viola lessons at the N.C. School of the Arts in Winston-Salem.
To qualify for the bee, Baron won the Winston-Salem Journal Regional Spelling Bee in March.
The bee is competitive, with spellers studying word lists for hours a day in the months leading up to the event. Depending on how far they go, spellers are also eligible for cash prizes ranging from $50 to $30,000.
All spellers receive a commemorative watch, a Webster’s Third New International Dictionary on CD-ROM and a $100 savings bond. For making the semifinals, Baron will also receive a cash prize of $250
Because of an age limit, this is the last year Baron is eligible for the bee. But he hopes make an appearance at a bee in the future.
“I’m going to coach my brother and he’s going to come back,” Baron said.
Contact Amy Dominello at 202-662-7671 or adominello@mediageneral.com
Media General News Service
WASHINGTON - Baron Fenwick had never heard of the word “exsertile.”
But yesterday, as stood as a semifinalist on the stage of the 2008 Scripps National Spelling Bee, he tried to think of how the word was spelled.
The 14-year-old from Todd came close, missing by one letter. He spelled the word “E-X-C-E-R-T-I-L-E.”
Exsertile – which means capable of being thrust forth or out – may have tripped Baron up. But by then he had already beaten a lot of spellers – including 10 others from North Carolina - to make it to the semifinals.
Baron, an eighth-grader at Green Valley School in Boone, was one of 45 semifinalists. The bee started with 288 spellers Thursday. The finals aired last night on ABC.
Baron, who studied hard for the bee, said he wasn’t nervous during the semifinals, which aired on ESPN.
And he wasn’t too upset about bowing out of the bee.
“My goal was to get to the quarterfinals,” he said. “Getting to the semifinals on ESPN is just like gravy.”
Plus Baron has lots of other things to worry about. He has piano camp in a week. And in the fall, he’ll major in piano and take viola lessons at the N.C. School of the Arts in Winston-Salem.
To qualify for the bee, Baron won the Winston-Salem Journal Regional Spelling Bee in March.
The bee is competitive, with spellers studying word lists for hours a day in the months leading up to the event. Depending on how far they go, spellers are also eligible for cash prizes ranging from $50 to $30,000.
All spellers receive a commemorative watch, a Webster’s Third New International Dictionary on CD-ROM and a $100 savings bond. For making the semifinals, Baron will also receive a cash prize of $250
Because of an age limit, this is the last year Baron is eligible for the bee. But he hopes make an appearance at a bee in the future.
“I’m going to coach my brother and he’s going to come back,” Baron said.
Contact Amy Dominello at 202-662-7671 or adominello@mediageneral.com