Queen Bee

You might not have heard, but I am the Queen of the Spelling Bee around these parts! Every March, the Herald-Journal hosts the Regional Spelling Bee for Spartanburg, Cherokee and Union county schools. This March marks my 4th year as Bee Coordinator!

Bee Medals

Around this time each year I go into freakout mode as I frantically prepare everything for the big day. This year,

 72 third through eighth graders are

 competing for the Regional Bee title

 and the right to represent the Upstate

 at the National Bee in May. The fact

 that I am a perfectionist/slightly OCD

 only makes planning the Bee that

 much more stressful for me because

I start twitching if everything is not

 just so.

Bobble-head Bee Trophy & First Place Trophy

What all goes into planning a Bee you may wonder? Communicating with 72 local schools and then 72 school winners, the recruitment of 12 Judges and 4 Pronouncers, the compiling of 16 word list notebooks, with lists of 500 words divided into rounds and marked with tabs, printing certificates, t-shirts, trophies, medals, spelling number necklaces, refreshments, registration etc, etc, etc. The most difficult part is juggling the planning of the Bee with my normal job duties and trying to fit everything into the 8-hour work day. If only there were more hours in the day!

Luckily my obsession for detail pays off the day of the Bee and everything (knock on wood) goes off with little to no drama. The most stressful part of the day will be pronouncing the names of the 72 school winners as they walk across the stage. There will probably be a crier or two, but that is to be expected. I truly take pride in each Bee I successfully pull off and enjoy the opportunity the Bee gives so many students in the area.

Did I mention that I am a horrible speller? I find it amusing that I am always the worst speller on the stage. I have to admit, I can't even pronounce half the words, much less tell you how to spell them. It's ok - I have the word lists kids!