Last night I watched the 2009 Scripps National Spelling Bee on ABC. It's a celebration of excellence. Out of the 11 kids who were the top spellers in the nation, two were white, one Asian, one African-American and the rest were of Indian descent. All of these young people are outstanding and have worked hard.
The top three spellers were
Kavya Shivashankar from Kansas, age 13
Tim Ruiter from Virginia, age 12
Aishwarya Pastapur from Illinois, age 13
The championship words were
reredos
antonomasia
bouquiniste
oriflamme
guayabera
isagoge
sophrosyne
menhir--This word took out Aishwarya from Illinois.
phoresymaecenas--This word took out Tim from Virginia.
laodicean--This is the winning word that made Kavya Shivashankar from Kansas the winner of the 2009 National Spelling Bee.
Congratulations, Kavya. You are amazing, outstanding, and I was thrilled to watch you win.
As I watched the spelling bee for the second time that is saved on my tivo, I thought about all the schools who don't participate in the National Spelling Bee and who don't care about this great competition that celebrates excellence. It tells a lot about a school who doesn't care to participate and encourage their students to participate.
Kavya's father was her coach. Tim's coach was his mother who homeschools him. I saw the oustanding parents of all eleven young people who work hard to help their children become all they can be. Each of the parents is an outstanding example of what all parents should be and how parents should help their children learn. Parents are the first teachers and the most important teachers of their child. It is the parents responsibility to teach their children within the safety of the home to learn to become independent and successfully navigate in the world. These parents are outstanding examples of this as I'm sure all these children will go on to become contributing adults in any field of their choice.
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