“Take care that you never spell a word wrong. Always before you write a word, consider how it is spelled, and, if you do not remember, turn to a dictionary. “
-Thomas Jefferson in a letter to his daughter, Martha

Few events on the Keystone campus bring more joy, anguish, and anticipation than the annual school Spelling Bee. For two hours or more, students, faculty/staff members, and parents gather in the gym.  We lean forward while a student slowly enunciates each letter only to fall back and exhale when they correctly complete the word; the groans from the crowd to a misspelling speak to our collective heartbreak and empathy for a child who made it this far only to bow out.  We also admire their courage as lower and middle schoolers perform to a packed house of schoolmates and adults. 

So, why in an era of spellcheck and AI do we still hold a Spelling Bee?  Some people might argue that this yearly competition feels like an antiquated throwback to an earlier age when students studied cursive writing and diagramming sentences. I disagree. There’s more to the Spelling Bee than just sheer memorization, and it’s helpful for young people to learn about words. I’ll state my bias up front; I love the spelling bee. Every year, I am returned to the time in fourth grade at Ninde S. Wilder Elementary School in Louisville, Kentucky when I won the Bee after correctly spelling “Tanganyika.”  (You know you’re old when the word spelled is the name of a country that no longer exists-Tanganyika was an East African nation that merged with Zanzibar in 1964 to form the country of Tanzania.) 

Our school Spelling Bee coordinator, third grade teacher Ms. Hannah Steward, explains that her  love for the Bee is as much personal as it is professional: 

“My grandmother was the Monroe County, Iowa Spelling Bee champion in 1938, traveling from her one-room schoolhouse to the “big city” of Des Moines to compete in the regional bee, and I’m lucky enough to still have her winner’s medal today. You could say spelling is genetic in my family. I later became my own school’s spelling bee champion from sixth through eighth grade, advancing to the city bees each year—though not with Siyona-level results.” 

We’ll get to Siyona in a moment. Ms. Steward started the school Spelling Bee 19 years ago and has seen it grow in popularity and the level of competition: “Over the years, our bee has expanded to include younger grade levels, vocabulary rounds, and an increasingly strong level of competition. Our students now come so well prepared that we often exhaust the official Scripps study lists and must move to additional, previously unstudied words to determine our winners. Some competitions have even stretched beyond two hours as students continue spelling with impressive stamina and focus.”

Currently, the program teaches students many lessons beyond the immediately obvious. “The spelling bee encourages students to take risks, stand in front of their peers, and build confidence through preparation. Just as important, it fosters empathy—students cheer for one another, celebrate successes, and comfort friends when the competition does not go as hoped. These moments are some of my favorite parts of the day because they remind us that academic competitions can also strengthen community.

Ms. Steward offers a profound defense of this pursuit.

“In an era of spellcheck and autocorrect, learning to spell still matters because words unlock power. In my classroom, spelling instruction is closely tied to teaching Greek and Latin roots and their meanings. When students learn that tele means “far,” graph means “write,” or spect means “to look,” they are not just memorizing words—they are unlocking the meanings of hundreds of new terms across subjects,” she says. “Our spelling bee’s vocabulary rounds reinforce this deeper understanding, encouraging students not only to spell words correctly but also to understand their meanings and use them accurately in their writing. Each year, I find myself learning new words right alongside the students at the judges’ table and bringing them back to my third grade classroom so we can explore their meanings and origins together.”

Keystone’s most decorated speller just defended her school title for the fourth year in a row. Eighth-grader Siyona, who has also finished as high as 20th in the country, explained that the best way to prepare for these competitions is, no surprise, to read a great deal. “I believe my secret to spelling success comes from reading a lot of books,” Siyona says. “Studying word lists is definitely important (don’t skip that), but I’ve noticed that many of the words I’ve learned show up naturally in nonfiction, like encyclopedias, and even in fiction. Reading is a way of having fun, and the best part is that for me it never even feels like studying.”

Perhaps one of the most enjoyable elements of watching Siyona perform is the way she spells the words on her leg as she answers the questions.  (In the category of “imitation is the sincerest form of flattery,” other students have begun to emulate Siyona by spelling on their legs, and it seems to work.) Siyona offered why she does this, “The ‘writing words on my leg’ motion was really just an improvisation based on my actual technique. Normally, I write the letters on my hand, and that small motion helps lock the spelling into my muscle memory so I don’t lose track of the sequence. Only, it’s harder to do that when I have a microphone in my hand, so I adapted.” 

In a May 2024 article in Ed Week called How Winning the National Spelling Bee Prepared Me for High School, champion Dev Shah summarized the benefits of this competition. “The spelling bee has taught me more than just being able to spell obscure words correctly. It taught me how to plan and organize. I’ve learned to be unafraid to take risks and to enjoy learning about the world. I can now connect my vast knowledge of words to science, history, and more. My regimen has taught me so much about who I am as a student, a speller, and a person.”

So, yes, in an era of AI and technology guided recommendations, there is still a place for a contest that requires our students to use their own brains.  In addition, one of the many frustrations with auto-correct and spell check comes when the word suggested may be perfectly valid, but not the one we want.  Let’s continue to cheer our Cobras when they spell words correctly, console them when they misspell something, and marvel at their dedication in honing their skills.