It took almost 90 minutes, but a new spelling champion emerged Wednesday in Shawano.
Joseph Mente won the Shawano School District spelling bee Wednesday after spelling “corsair” correctly. Although the original definition of corsair refers to a privateer or pirate, it also is the name for several types of naval aircraft and submarines.
Mente, a seventh-grade student at Shawano Community Middle School, made it through five general rounds before getting into a brief two-way contest against Kate Williams, a sixth-grader at SCMS.
Mente spelled “basilica” correctly and then received “corsair” after Williams spelled “echelon” wrong.
A new spelling champ was guaranteed after Karelyn Malliet, who won multiple district bees and the Wisconsin bee in 2014, moved on to high school this year.
Mente did not expect to be the one standing on top once all was said and done.
“I wasn’t expecting to win. I didn’t think I was that good,” Mente said.
Unlike Malliet, who said she spent hours studying words to prepare for the bee, Mente said he only looked at the general list provided to competitors a couple of times before Wednesday’s competition.
Mente thought “corsair” was actually one of the easier words he spelled that day. There were plenty of other words that tripped up his competitors.
The word “atomic” derailed a speller in the first round. Other words that caught spellers with missing or extra letters were “fulfilling,” “polemic,” “guardian” and “epoxy.”
“Balderdash” almost tripped up a speller, but the misspelling was nullified when the pronouncer mispronounced the word. Another word tossed from the bee was “zinger,” when the speller requested the word be used in a sentence and that sentence could not be found.
Eighth-grade student Amy Quinn finished in third place after she spelled “schnitzel” correctly.
Thirty-eight students from SCMS and Olga Brener Intermediate School participated in the bee.
Mente will represent Shawano in the regional spelling bee, which takes place at 7 p.m. Feb. 16, and the winner of that bee will travel to Madison for the state contest in March.
“It’s pretty cool. I guess I’m excited,” Mente said.
SCMS Principal Mary Kramer is also excited to see how Mente performs at the regional level.
“The kids did an outstanding job. The words were challenging this year,” Kramer said. “We’re really proud of our winners.”
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