10/15/12 Over 2,300 high school students from around the state have been preparing for the 28th annual Indiana Academic Spell Bowl, which will take place at 18 sites around the state for grades 9-12 on Monday evening, October 15.  Plymouth High School will compete at John Glenn High School in Class 1.  The team, including members Kurt Corsbie, Pauline Dagaas, Angel Figueroa, Anna Piazza, Abby Schumacher, Ashley Stokes, Nate Mahan, Grace Stokes, Kennedy Jones, Zach Lee, Kam Markovich, Andrew Miller, Kelsey Schnieders, Luke Schumacher, Ty Shively, and Nicole Splix will attempt to qualify for the state finals for the third year in a row, and for the first time in Class 1. Senior division teams of 10 students each will compete.  In addition to the high school teams, over 7,000 younger students are preparing for other levels of the Indiana Academic Spell Bowl.  Junior Division teams (grades 6 – 8) will compete on October 23, and Elementary Division teams (grades 4 – 6) will compete on November 15.

The Indiana Academic Spell Bowl is a team concept with no individual winners.  Each round consists of one team member writing the correct spelling of nine words while competing against one team member from each other school.   Students are seated on the gym floor or auditorium stage.  Each word is graded immediately and an individual scoring chart maintains a running team score as the evening progresses.  While students are waiting to compete, they sit in a cheer block to encourage their teammates.

The top teams with the highest scores in each of the four enrollment classifications will converge on the Purdue University campus (both Senior and Junior divisions) on Saturday, November 10, 2012, for the Indiana Academic Spell Bowl State Finals competition.  Over 2,000 persons witnessed last year’s competition.

The competition is administered by the Indiana Association of School Principals, Department of Student Programs and sponsored by Purdue University.  A list of all competing Senior Division teams and their host site assignments is posted online at http://www.iasp.org/iace/Confirm%20Spell%20Senior.html

For more information contact Dept. of Student Programs at the above location or your local participating site.

Statewide results will be posted by noon October 16  at http://www.iasp.org/index.php/student-programs/academic-competitions/spellbowl/

Teams qualifying for the Spell Bowl State Finals will be marked in BOLD type.