IWU to Sponsor Spelling Bee

Indiana Wesleyan University will sponsor the 2009 Grant County Spelling Bee, which annually attracts about 100 students from county schools. The Grant County winner advances to the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C.

There was no county spelling bee in 2008, after the Chronicle-Tribune discontinued its sponsorship of the event. The newspaper had sponsored the local spelling bee since 1971.

The 2009 spelling bee will be March 17 in Phillippe Performing Arts Center at IWU, where it has been held in recent years. Dr. Scott Turcott, a communications professor at IWU, has agreed to continue as the pronouncer.

Alan Miller, IWU’s public relations director, will serve as coordinator for the spelling bee. Miller was actively involved in the event during his 30-year career at the Chronicle-Tribune.

Twenty-three Grant County schools participated in the last county spelling bee in 2007. Students in grades four through eight – in public, private and home schools – will be eligible to participate in the 2009 spelling bee.

All Grant County schools will receive enrollment information from the Scripps National Spelling Bee. The national contest, which will be held in May 2009, is sponsored by the E.W. Scripps Co., a Cincinnati-based media company.

Historically, newspapers serving English-speaking people around the world have been exclusive sponsors of 280 local spelling bees. IWU will be the first university to sponsor a local spelling bee – which includes sponsorship of the National Spelling Bee.