THE WINNER OF THIS year’s Adult Spelling Bee was the team known as “Let It Bee.” Each member received honey along with their official bobble-head trophy.
Published in the March 20, 2018 edition.
WAKEFIELD — The Americal Civic Center was buzzing with excitement on Friday night!
WEF held its 2nd Annual Adult Spelling Bee on Friday and brought in a lively crowd who showed their Bee spirit by creating clever team names and dressing the part. Teams included “Don’t Stop BEElieving,” “The Hip Bees,” “The West Side Bee Hive,” and the “WannaBees” to name a few. The “Wonderful Women of Wakefield” wore Wonder Woman attire with head bands and capes.
Andrew Tetrault, Galvin Middle School vice principal, was the emcee and played a key role in facilitating the event and energizing the crowd. The game consisted of 10 rounds of nine spelling questions each and one trivia question. Mr. T. added his own style and humor to the script he presented and he kept the crowd entertained and engaged.
Each of the 10 rounds had spelling questions that surrounded a particular theme. The names of some of the rounds included” “Oh The Places You Will Go in Massachusetts,” “Show Your Wakefield Spirits,” and “President WannaBees.” One particular round called “Who’s Who in Wakefield Public Schools” was poked fun at by the one Melrose team in attendance the “Melrose BurpBees” which included Representative Paul Brodeur and was headed up by Team Captain Joy Fay of Melrose Bootcamp.
The “Weather or Not” theme was a tribute to the March weather and the fact that The WEF Spelling Bee, which was originally scheduled for March 2nd, had to be rescheduled due to a nor’easter resulting in a power outage at the Civic Center on that date.
Jen Theriault, vice president of WEF and Chairman of the Bee Committee, coordinated the event with the help of a team of WEF volunteers who were referred to as worker bees for this event. “It was a great night that was the culmination of a lot of work and creative thinking by the WEF team! It was a lot of fun for all of us and we are so pleased with the turnout,” she said.
Mike Hartin was the DJ and worked with Mr. Tetrault to keep the crowd entertained and provided music between rounds.
His music was the focal point of one round entitled “Top Hits Through the Decades.” During this round the teams listened to part of the song and had to come up with the title or artist and spell it correctly. The music round started with the 40s hit “Chattanooga Choo Choo” and ended with 2016 hit, “Flo Rida.”
In the end, “Let it Bee” was victorious and named the 2018 Bee Champion. Along with bragging rights, the team received a bobble head bee trophy and each team member took home a jar of Beebee Library honey. A Greenwood School group which included 3 teachers, came in a close second. The team that came in last was also recognized and each participant on the “Wii Spel Gud” Team received bee antennae which made for fun team photo!
According to Elizabeth Russell, president of WEF, the evening was a huge success. “We met our fundraising goals and facilitated a fun and spirited community event. We want to thank everyone who came out to support WEF and, in turn, support our schools and our students.”
The Wakefield Educational Foundation funds enrichment programs in every school in the district. Without WEF funding these programs wouldn’t be possible. This school year WEF funded $25,000 in grants to support programs such as Theater Arts productions at the High School, Tower Gardens and MakerSpace at Galvin, Museum of Science Traveling Programs at Galvin and Dolbeare, Sensory Garden at Greenwood, Designing Windmills at Walton, Garden Project at Woodville and Bubble workshop and Phonemic Awarness materials at Doyle. For more information about WEF please visit the website at Wakefieldeducationalfoundation.org.
