The Buzz on Spelling Bee

Eliot Evans, Sarah Reuter, and Max Buchanan proved their exceptional knowledge of orthography (the study of correct spelling) when they advanced past the preliminary rounds of the Olympic Week spelling bee. Facing down words like chiasmus (reversal in the order of words in two otherwise parallel phrases), poignant (keenly distressing to the feelings), and gerrymander (the dividing of a state or country into election districts so as to give one political party a majority in many districts while concentrating the voting strength of the other party into as few districts as possible), these students deftly spelled their way into the final round.
During Friday’s assembly, the exuberant (effusively and almost uninhibitedly enthusiastic) crowd watched the seniors, Rahner, and Kostka collegio vie for the top spot. Reuter was bested by the word attrition (the action or process of gradually reducing the strength or effectiveness of someone or something through sustained attack or pressure) leaving only Kostka’s Buchanan and Rahner’s substitute speller Daniel Wilson left in the running. Wilson remained the last one standing after Buchanan was taken down by the word synecdoche (a figure of speech in which the part is made to represent the whole or vice versa).
The word that clinched Rahner’s victory was prestidigitation (magical tricks performed as entertainment). Wilson showed incredible efficacy (capacity for producing a desired result or effect) during the 2016 spelling bee.