Ding. A single sound can crush the dream of a young language lover. The shrill ping from a small bell marks the end of the road in a spelling career. Students study for countless hours over a period of several years to attain one goal. The Scripps National Spelling Bee requires a tremendous amount of dedication, but the honor is incomparable.
The History of the Scripps National Spelling Bee
The National Spelling Bee has been a celebrated academic competition for nearly one hundred years. The Louisville Courier-Journal sponsored the first bee in 1925, consisting of just nine spellers, (Maguire,68). The champion was Frank Neuhauser, who claimed victory by correctly spelling gladiolus, (68-69). Neuhauser’s prize for winning the very first national bee was $500 and the opportunity to meet President Calvin Coolidge, (69).
Maguire described the diversity present at the National Spelling Bee during the early years of its existence. In the 1929, the small pool of spellers included children of French, Israeli, English, Irish, Japanese, Swedish, Italian, Czech, and Polish descent, (73). This was a testament to the determination and dedication of immigrants to America.
The bee was successful and celebrated until 1943 when it took a hiatus until competition resumed in 1946 following World War Two, (75). The bee became increasingly more difficult throughout the latter half of the twentieth century.
Making it to the National Spelling Bee
Making it to the national bee is a lengthy process. Spellers often begin “bee season” with a classroom or grade level bee. Often held midway through the school year, these bees are usually very informal and the words used are left to the discretion of the teacher or...
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...sed words both times, ("Spellbinding"). The thirteen-year-old from Bayside Hills, New York was characterized by cracking his knuckles onstage. Many spellers have characteristic gestures as they spell, ("Spellbinding"). Mahankali seized the title by correctly spelling the word "knaidel", and along with the prestige and glory of winning, received $30,000, ("Spellbinding").
Young spellers from all across this nation and several others dedicate their lives to studying words and their patterns. The amount of work is mind-boggling, but there is no greater honor for a young word lover.
Works Cited
Maguire, James. American Bee. Holtzbrinck Publisher. 2006. Print. 9 April 2014
“New Rule For The Bee,” Time For Kids (Grades 3-4) 3.24 (2013): 2.MAS Ultra-School Edition
Web. 2 Apr. 2014
“Spellbinding.” Sunday Times, The (2013):8, 9. Newspaper Source. Web. 2 Apr 2014
In life, actions and events that occur can sometimes have a greater meaning than originally thought. This is especially apparent in The Secret Life Of Bees, as Sue Monk Kidd symbolically uses objects like bees, hives, honey, and other beekeeping means to present new ideas about gender roles and social/community structures. This is done in Lily’s training to become a beekeeper, through August explaining how the hive operates with a queen, and through the experience Lily endures when the bees congregate around her.
von Frish, K. 1967. The Dance Language and Orientation of Bees. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
The themes of hatred and judgment are shown all throughout Little Bee. Whether it’s Lawrence’s threats, the carelessness of the detention officers, or the sideways glances from the relatives at Andrew’s funeral, Little Bee is always in the middle of some kind of judgment. However, there is one character that shows pure love and understanding for Little Bee, no matter her exterior or culture. Charlie O’Rourke may be considered naïve, but it’s his naivety that allows him to see past the discrimination Little Bee receives. He is the prime example of how children are often blind to this type of abhorrence. Charlie gives the readers insight into this phenomenon by allowing Little Bee to comfort him and by finally removing his Batman costume.
Para 2: First of all, Bees and beehives is a significant motif in the novel by Kidd because it represented the community of women. The Boatwright sisters, along with Our Daughters of Mary, stood up for Lily when T. Ray came to take her home. Quoted from page 721, “The four of them lined up beside us, clutching their pocketbooks up against their bodies like they might have to beat the living heck out of somebody.” The Daughters of Mary all stood in the parlor of the Boatwright house, ready to take on whatever came their way. The community of women in this novel stuck together
Honey bees, or Apis mellifera, are social insects, despite what preconceptions there are about them. They are commonly divided into three divisions of class. The first is the worker bees. They are born from fertilized eggs and are the females that are not sexually developed. They are the ones that people usually associate with honey bees. Their main job is to search for food, and build and protect the hive from predators. They have one stinger that, when used, the worker will die. Next is the queen. Her job is to lay the eggs that will hatch into the new generation of bees. Queens also controls the hive and the activities within the hive by producing chemical pheromones the steers the behavior of the bees. She possesses a stinger and can sting and kill multiple times and not be killed herself. (Hoover, S, et al. 2003) In most hives, only one queen is present and if that queen dies, the workers will create a new queen by feeding one of the workers with a special diet called “royal jelly.” This allows the sterile worker to develop into a fertile queen. The last class division i...
Finally, the novel The Secret life of Bees demonstrates the emotional maturity, and growth of the both Lily and Zach, during times of systematic racism. The novel authentically represents Civil Rights Movement’s time, and makes us realize how spiritually sad and dangerous these times were.
Once upon a time in a beehive a bee that did not want to work. Its to say, she
There was also a specific process for the bees that were used and the process of stinging. Only guard bees were taken from the entrance of a hive. The guard bees were located because of t...
today’s world. People have pointed out that their ability to spell out words has become difficult
A beehive without a queen is a community headed for extinction. Bees cannot function without a queen. They become disoriented and depressed, and they stop making honey. This can lead to the destruction of the hive and death of the bees unless a new queen is brought in to guide them. Then, the bees will cooperate and once again be a prosperous community. Lily Melissa Owens, the protagonist of Sue Monk Kidd’s The Secret Life of Bees, faces a similar predicament. While she does not live in a physical hive, the world acts as a hive. She must learn to work with its inhabitants, sharing a common direction, in order to reach her full potential. The motif of the beehive is symbolic of how crucial it is to be a part of a community in order to achieve
While arguments are out there that disagree, recent trend in honey bee die offs has shown
Ruth, Elizabeth. “The Secret Life of Bees Traces the Growth of Lily’s Social Consciousness.” Coming of Age in Sue Monk Kidd’s The Secret Life of Bees. Ed. Dedria Bryfonski. Detroit: Greenhaven, 2013. 63-65. Print. Social Issues in Literature. Rpt. of “Secret Life of Bees.” The Globe and Mail 2 Mar. 2002: n. pag.
...ing because of something internal not something external, Seeley concluded that bees seem to posses a rule about promoting nest sites. The “rule” is that when the bees return to the current nest and dance for a site, the dance’s strength (qualified by the amount of waggle runs) directly reflects the quality of the site. Therefore, the dances for poorer sites will end quickly and support will be given to the dance that lasts the longest.
Winfree, R. . The conservation and restoration of wild bees. Annuals of the New York Academy of Sciences. Volume 1195, 3 May 2010, Pages 169 – 197.
reading the “Wild Bees” by James K. Baxter. The poem addresses a group of boys attacking a