Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, May 31, 1990 TAG: 9005310287
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-4 EDITION: BEDFORD/FRANKLIN
SOURCE: Mark Morrison
DATELINE: LENGTH: Short
Her accomplishment wasn't a surprise.
"I felt pretty confident that I'd go on - and I'm not trying to brag - basically because we went over all the words so many times," Dean said by telephone. "I had them ingrained in my head."
The 14-year-old from Clifton Middle School in Clifton Forge will compete against 155 other regional spelling winners today for the national championship.
"Today's a different story," she said.
Dean won the trip to the national competition by taking first place in the Western Virginia Regional Spelling Bee last month in Roanoke. Prior to that, she had won spelling contests at the classroom, school and district levels.
In those competitions and for Wednesday's rounds in Washington, spelling contestants received a list of words that they studied in advance. Today, however, they can be asked any word from the dictionary.
Wednesday's rounds cut the field of competitors, who are 10 to 14 years old, from 226 down to 155 in the two-day spelling contest being held in a hotel ballroom.
The competition, which began in 1925, is sponsored by Scripps Howard Newspapers and 208 other daily, weekly and Sunday newspapers in 47 states.
To get to the national competition, the 127 girls and 99 boys had competed against nearly 9 million other students at the local level.
by CNB