The National Speling Bea
by Candice Wiggum
In just two years, thanks to the foundation laid by Maggie Davies and Matt Tschabold, the National
Spelling Bee has grown into a huge national event. It may take a village to raise a child, but it takes
an entire country to hold a successful national spelling bee.
First, it takes a dedicated committee.
Maggie Davies, bless her heart,
extended and was our fearless leader.
She did a lot of the grunt work:
developing the lists and bonus lists,
reviewing and editing the rules,
checking out the possible venue and a
myriad of other small tasks. Marlys
Shelby was our organizational genius,
setting up spread sheets, tracking
qualifying events and students who
had qualified, answering questions on
the spelling bee e-mail site and
tracking volunteers. Sarah Dickerson
was our techie. She updated the web Photo by Austin Fast
page and Facebook page, put
information about qualifiers and the registration forms on them, figured out registration, and got our
every request (“Put a map to the American College up, fast!”) done quickly, no matter how
challenging. Claire Goodwin was our American Corner contact, corralling a group of wonderful
people who all had their own approach to doing things, and Candy Wiggum almost went blind
trying to figure out e-mail addresses so she could send out invitations to over 600 qualifying
students.
Second, it takes dedicated Peace Corps volunteers spread throughout Macedonia who were willing
to organize local regional qualifiers in their town or village. Even with only two qualifying students
from Skopje, we had 622 students, nationwide, qualify to be in the National Bee. A huge number of
students of every ethnicity came out after school to practice spelling in English, whether or not they
qualified for the final. We were so impressed that so many students all over Macedonia would be
that excited and involved.
Third, it takes local partners. Many, many teachers gave time, both for the local qualifiers and then
to come to Skopje for the bee. Several school directors gave money for transporting their students.
We are indebted to them. The American Corners facilitated several of the local bees and helped
organize kids and get them to Skopje. Friends, Peace Corps staff, American Corner interns and
college students pitched in to help judge, translate and direct traffic. We also enlisted the invaluable
help of the American College and Nick Naumoff, who turned over their college to us on that
Saturday in May, found us volunteers, provided us with prizes, and helped us with all manners of
administrative assistance.
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