It all comes down to this.
On Tuesday, 16 students in the Kent Intermediate School District will take the stage at the Ford Museum. A spot in the Scripps National Spelling Bee on the line.
The stakes are high, but the competitors are ready — already impressing people along their journey.
"When you watch students — anywhere from grades fourth through eighth grade — and you're seeing a fourth grader, you know, spelling words that I myself could not, they are amazing," said Kelli Brockway, Director of the Kent ISD Teaching and Learning Department. "It really is an awesome thing to watch."
For the first time since the pandemic, the 46th Annual Greater Grand Rapids Spelling Bee will take place at the Ford Museum. It's taken a lot for these students to even get to this point, spelling their way past tens of thousands of opponents.
There were 130 spelling bees at individual schools. Performing well there meant you were moving onto a regional qualifying bee, of which there were eight.
Only two winners were taken from each of those regional bees.
Which brings us to Tuesday. 16 students remain.
At this stage in the game, preparation is key.
"A lot of school-level spelling bees rely a lot on the memorization of how to spell a word," Brockway explained. "From there, students that are really successful will study language of origin, they memorize patterns of language, and they will use that information to help them be more successful in future bees.”
She added, "then, on top of that, standing up on the stage at the Ford museum in front of, you know, over 100 or so folks that will be there watching them, and to also have that pressure of them being asked on the spot to spell a word that they may have never even heard before."
The pressure is on. There's no doubt about it. However, these students are ready to s-p-e-l-l their way to the t-o-p.
The winner of tomorrow's bee will have a chair reserved on stage during the Scripps National Spelling Bee, which starts May 30.