BY ALIA SALIM
As CCHS buzzes through the second semester, many clubs are continuing to host activities for its members as well as all CCHS students.
On Friday, January 27, the National English Honors Society (NEHS) hosted its first annual Spelling Bee. They created an environment in which the audience was given many surprises throughout the competition.
“NEHS chose to hold a spelling bee this year because we realized CCHS has never had one and saw an opportunity for a tradition,” NEHS President Francesca Jacques said.
The first round of the spelling bee consisted of words that were considered an easy level for spellers. Even with this, a few spellers got out during the first round, which shocked part of the audience that knew how to spell some of the words.
However, during intermission, there was a slight turn in events. NEHS hosted a segment called “The Battle of the B’s,” which was a rapid-fire spelling bee between English teacher Briana Bullard and Social Studies teacher Bradley Berke.
“Francesca asked me if I would be interested, and I feel that I’m a good enough speller so I was interested,” Berke said. “But when I heard I would be going up against Ms. Bullard, it was an easy choice to participate because I needed to show my spelling dominance.”
With the audience choosing their sides of who they would like to win the battle, the participants escalated the levels of excitement throughout the auditorium.
The rules for this battle were simple: each teacher was given a different word that was on the same level of difficulty. If one teacher could spell a word correctly while the other couldn’t, that teacher would win. If both correctly or incorrectly spelled a word, then the battle would continue.
After a couple of rounds, the battle came to an end when Berke correctly spelled the word ‘Buoy’ while Bullard incorrectly spelled the word ‘Chauffeur.’ Thus, making Berke the winner of the first-ever “Battle of the B’s.”
“I take my title as King B very seriously,” Berke said. “I have my medal hanging in my room for all to see.”
Even after having a winner, the rivalry still continues.
“Berke owes me a rematch,” Bullard said.
After the teacher competition, the spelling bee returned to the student spellers. The number of participants on stage kept narrowing down until there was a final winner being senior Jamila Carpentieri.
With this being NEHS’ start to a tradition, many students said how much they enjoyed this event and hope to see it again for the next school year.
“There was a fantastic turnout this year, yet next year there are plans to include more prizes and more difficult words,” Jaques said. “It was so fun and brought together so many people, we’ve already had some confirmed spellers for Spelling Bee 2024!”
Since there are already plans being made for next school year’s spelling bee, there will be many more opportunities for students to participate and show their spelling talents.
Many students came to enjoy and show support not only for the participants but also for NEHS as they were able to put on a wonderful event this year for everyone to enjoy.
