From ‘extemporaneous’ in 1976 to ‘pariah’ in 2024, why Fond du Lac School District's citywide spelling bee is ending after nearly 50 years
FOND DU LAC — The 2024 Fond du Lac citywide spelling bee turns out to be the city's last.
Theisen Middle School Principal Brad Nerat, who led the 2024 spelling bee, announced the spelling bee's discontinuation to district principals and The Reporter alongside Fond du Lac School District Elementary Literacy Coordinator Lisa Nigl and Chief of Schools Matt Steinbarth.
"This decision is not taken lightly, and we understand that spelling bees have been a traditional and valuedcomponent of our academic culture," the notice said.
In line with the district's mission to create an inclusive and supportive learning environment for all students, spelling bee organizers took several factors into consideration to reach this decision.
Spelling bees could inadvertently exclude students with learning and language differences
Two of the factors were inclusivity and the pressure of spelling bees on students.
Spelling bees are dependent on rote memorization, which "may inadvertently exclude students with different learning styles or linguistic backgrounds," the notice reads.
This can include students with learning disabilities or other students with difficulties in hearing, speaking, memorization or concentration, as well as students for whom English isn't their first language.
Additionally, the stress and pressure on students contributes to anxiety and can negatively impact their overall learning experience when the district would rather allow students to explore their strengths without the fear of failure.
Opinion essays from spelling bee participants across America reflect this point, including from the 1997 winner of the Scripps National Spelling Bee, Rebecca Sealfon.
"The national spelling bee taught me discipline and showed me what I could accomplish," she wrote in Smithsonian Magazine in 2019. "But even as a kid the winner-take-all ethos bothered me. Elimination had hurt, and so did watching good friends miss."
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Fond du Lac School District can reallocate time, skills and resources for literacy and education
The other reasons behind the decision to end the bee were to redirect educational focus to other ways improve language and literacy skills and to reallocate resources and time to universal curriculums.
Spelling is an essential skill, but academic success takes in a range of abilities, and without the spelling bee, the district will develop "a more holistic approach to language and literacy" with various language skills,including comprehension, critical thinking and effective communication, according to the notice.
The district also will address the evolving needs of students to enhance their overall educational experience while aligning with the district vision and strategic plan.
Regional and national bees are still buzzing for spelling enthusiasts
The 2024 citywide spelling bee winner was Theisen Middle School student Shishir Maddineni, who spelled "pariah" correctly in the final round.
Some nearby cities, including Oshkosh, also do not have districtwide or citywide spelling bees, but Wisconsin cooperative educational service agencies (CESA) will still conduct their own regional bees, sending winners to the Badger State Spelling Bee in Madison.
Of the four winners in the CESA 6 regional bee in February, two went on to represent the Fond du Lac area in the state bee: Ava Clements of Ripon Middle School and Fond du Lac Christian School's Trinity Barrett-Paap, who won the Fond du Lac citywide spelling bee in 2022 and was a runner-up in the 2024 bee.
The other runners-up for the 2024 Fond du Lac bee were Zaeron Zellner of St. Peter's Lutheran and Sam Polacek of Woodworth Middle School.
The Reporter sponsored the bee for 48 years
The first official national spelling bee, which would eventually become known as the Scripps National Spelling Bee, started in 1925, but spelling competitions long pre-dated that, according to Sealfon.
Spelling bees are most often an English language spectacle given the use of loan words from other languages that led to a variety of spelling "rules." However, they are also mostly an American event, as some other English-speaking countries — namely Britain — held proper pronunciation above spelling.
In Fond du Lac, the first time the school district partnered with The Reporter to conduct an official spelling bee was in 1976.
The late Bill Graves, managing editor of The Reporter at the time, worked with school administrators to bring the event to life as a bicentennial project for the paper. His vision was to stress the importance and power of words in light of historical documents, especially the Declaration of Independence.
The first winner in the then-countywide bee was Faith Lutheran School eighth-grade student Debbie Heagler, who correctly spelled "extemporaneous." Oakfield Middle School student Karen Kraft won second place that year, followed by Lutheran Memorial School student Jeanette Kraus in third.
Other words in the 1976 bee included toboggan, electrolyte, paraffin, inaccessible and dissention. Words in the 2024 bee included fraudulent, tenuous, chaotic, insipid and militia.
Daphne Lemke is the Streetwise reporter for the Fond du Lac Reporter. Contact her at dlemke@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Fond du Lac Reporter: Fond du Lac citywide spelling bee is no more, school district says
