21 Teams NOT Smarter Than 5th Graders
22 Teams gathered at Owensboro Christian Church's Community Room Saturday night to compete in the Annual Spelling BEE to benefit the Imagination Library. They came from Industry, Banking, Education, the Medical Field and Hopsitality. One team represented publishing but when all was said and the spelling was done it was the 5th graders who took home the trophy.
The event raises funds to provide books to kids in the city and county. Once a month children get a grade approprite book in the mail. The cost is about $30 per student per year.
Oddly enough $30 is what it takes for a team to"buy back" into the competition after misspelling a work in round one or two. Saturday night several team, bought back, into the competition repeatedly.
When round 3 began 14 teams of the origional 22 remained. There was no more buy back. You had to be correct of your were out of the competition. The first word in round three was .....dumfound. 13 teams of adults spelled it with a "b" but the judges ruled the correct spelling "DUMFOUND".
The winning team was the SPELLING BEESTS from Sorgho Elementary School. Teacher Patsy Duke and 5th grade students, Gage Hayden, Shane Daugherty and Haley Bond were declared the winners by Judges Tom and Joe Castlen. Ms. Duke said she also thought it was spelled with a B, but was overruled by the students.
Today and for the next year the traveling trophy is proudly on display at Sorgho Elementary. Anyone else think they are smarter than a 5th grader?
Officials are still counting the money from Saturday night but it seems that the Imagination Library program will be alive and well for another year with a total of more than $8,000 raised and more to come. Officials said on Tuesday the monthly cost for Imagination Library in Daviess County is a bit over $4,000 .