Mercer County student spells her way to D.C. bee

DAILY MAIL STAFF

Mercer County seventh grader Molly Fromkin had her bases covered.

She had a green stone with the word "luck" painted on it. She hadspelling bee pins from prior competitions. She even had her bestfriend, Michelle Copolo, who sat in the audience and squeezed herlucky Beanie Baby puppy dog every time Molly approached themicrophone. So, with the correct spelling of the word "musketeer"in the ninth round, Molly's luck - and a little hard work - paidoff. Molly was named the champion of the 25th Daily Mail RegionalSpelling Bee Saturday.

It wasn't all smooth sailing, though.

In the fifth round, Molly heard the word "preconceived" with a"d," repeated the word "preconceived" with a "d," and spelled theword "preconceived," with a "d." But the pronouncer said"preconceive."

With one extra letter and the excruciatingly abrupt sound of abuzzer, it sounded as if Mercer County seventh-grader Molly Fromkinwas out of the bee.

"What she heard, she spelled," said master of ceremonies BosJohnson, breaking the nervous silence. "The judges have ruled it iscorrect." The audience applauded.

A similar problem befell a contestant in the late rounds ofKanawha County's bee on March 11. A different panel of judgeseliminated that student from the bee. Under spelling bee rules,judges are in complete control of the bee once it starts, and suchcalls are often difficult to make.

"Who should I call first?" joked Howard Fromkin, Molly's father,as he pulled out a cell phone after the bee was concluded.

Molly, a 13-year-old from Bluefield Middle School, is the secondMercer County student to win the bee in two years. She follows PaulBroyles, now a Princeton High School ninth-grader, who took theprize last year.

Clearly ecstatic, Molly said that without the help of her mother,Elisabeth Fromkin, she might not have made it.

"She helped me study. She typed the words and she quizzed me,"she said, hugging her mother.

The bee lasted nine rounds, not including a spell-off betweencompetitors who stumbled in the eighth round. Battling in the spell-off were Nicholas County sixth-grader Jinger Bays of Mount LookoutElementary, Braxton County Middle School eighth-grader Michael Ware,and Putnam County fifth-grader Dhivya Ravikumar of Scott TeaysElementary.

After the spell-off, Jinger was named runner-up, correctlyspelling "incision" and stumbling over "cynicism." Surrounded byfamily members after the bee, Jinger said she plans to give it a gonext year.

Spelling coach Katheryn Luikart said she could tell Jinger wasbeginning to get a bit intimidated in the eighth round as spellersaround her began getting disqualified.

"I saw her eyes," Luikart said, still pleased with Jinger'sperformance. "She looked real insecure." When she approached themicrophone, Jinger sometimes fiddled with the edge of her pink shirtor clasped her hands in front of her.

Michael came in third place, after he accidentally mixed upvowels in the words "deterrence" in the eighth-round and"moratorium" in the spell-off. Dhivya eyed her prize money proudlyafter lasting until "linoleum" and "expedient" caused her problems.

Mercer County runner-up Marion Hicks, 11, a fifth-grader fromBrushfork Elementary, endeared herself to audience members when,every time she stood to spell, she cupped her hands over hereyeglasses to block the stage lights from her view of her mother,Karen Romans, who sat in the audience.

Marion lasted until round seven when she mistook an "e" for an"i" in "mimeograph."

Thirty-two students - a winner and runner-up from each of 16county spelling bees - participated in the regional event. They werefrom Boone, Braxton, Calhoun, Clay, Fayette, Greenbrier, Kanawha,Mercer, Monroe, Nicholas, Pocahontas, Putnam, Raleigh, Roane,Summers and Webster counties.

Every contestant received a spelling bee T-shirt from the DailyMail, and the 16 county champions will receive checks to purchase$100 savings bonds.

Fromkin and one parent will receive a trip to Washington, D.C.,to participate in the Scripps-Howard National Spelling Bee, May 28to June 2, courtesy of the Daily Mail.

Fromkin also received:

- A copy of Webster's Third New International Dictionary, theofficial reference for the spelling bee.

*A package of computer software called Corel WordPerfect Office2000, a gift of Corel Corp. of Canada.

- The Samuel Louis Sugarman Award, a $100 savings bond donated byJay Sugarman, president of Starwood Financial Trust in New York.

- A DK.com $50 gift certificate courtesy of Dorling KindersleyPublishing in New York.

- The Daily Mail Regional Spelling Bee trophy, engraved with thewinner's name for placement in the student's school.

- An engraved Charley West Salutes plaque from the Daily Mail.

The runner-up received $150 in cash from the Daily Mail. Otherprizes included: third place, $75 cash from the Daily Mail; fourthplace, $50 cash from the Daily Mail; fifth place, Merriam Webster'sCollegiate Dictionary, Tenth Edition; and sixth place, a giftcertificate for a spelling bee souvenir from Scripps-Howard.

The pronouncer for the bee was Dorothy Johnson, retiredchairwoman of the Marshall University speech department. BosJohnson, who served as master of ceremonies, is a retired televisionbroadcaster and associate vice president of Charles Ryan Associates.

Judging the event were Virginia Edwards, retired chairwoman ofthe English department at West Virginia State College; Sara Walker,human resources manager for the Charleston law firm Jackson & Kelly;and Carolyn Dorcas, a teacher at South Charleston High School.

The bee was organized by Spelling Bee Director Mary FrancesBleidt, who has coordinated the event on behalf of the Daily Mailfor 15 years.

Writer Rebecca Catalanello can be reached at 348-7918 or by e-mail at rebcat73@dailymail.com.