Library Trustbees Win Spelling Bee

The Fourth Annual Friends of the Scarsdale Library Spelling Bee had all the elements for a dramatic evening .... great expectations, spelling starlets, returning champions and the promise of youth.

Four swarms , each with five cleverly-named teams of spellers competed in the first rounds, followed by a final round with the four finalists. PTA moms entered as the "Bee Tee Council and the "PT Bees", returning champions Lucas Meyer and Esther Sloan were joined by Robert Berg in "Hip to Bee-Square, and "The Presbeeterians with Heather Gilchiest Meili and Stephen Meili were back to see if they could repeat their success from prior years. Trigens, Brian Guggenheimer and Randy Guggenheimer with Stephie Miller were also former players as well as the Library Trustbees, Terry Simon, Florie Wachtenheim and Seth Ross --who won last year with different teammates. Five teams of Scarsdale High School students also showed great promise. Fresh from reviewing their SAT words, these teens were forbidding challengers.

Following introductory remarks Spelling Bee Co-Chair Renu Lalwani and Library Director Beth Bermel, Co-Chair Sara Werder introduced the judge :Assemblywoman Amy Paulin, Village Trustee Jon Mark and eagle-eye Margaret Smith from the Spelling Bee Committee.

Voice of the Mets Ed Coleman began the games opening with the word P-A-V-I-L-I-O-N. Two teams were out immediately, including a second "L" to write P-A-V-I-L-L-I-O-N. The remaining teams, save The Presbeeterians, had a quandary over the word Q-U-A-N-D-A-R-Y and Swarm A was over after just four words.

However Swarm B was just the opposite and proved to be the longest in the history of the Bee as the teams went through seventeen words before Seth Ross, Terry Simon and Florie Wachtenheim emerged the victors.

One team was eliminated after they spelled J-A-C-K-K-N-I-F-E with one K (fooled me!) and two more teams fell on the word P-L-E-B-E-I-A-N –(who knew there was another E, following the B?)

The remaining three teams all misspelled Rorschach, so they all stayed in until the Trigens were eliminated by the word D-Y-B-B-U-K (an evil spirit in Jewish folklore) and the remaining team failed to spell Q-U-I-D-N-U-N-C correctly. No surprise as I had never even heard the word "quidnunc" before, no less spelled it. I later found out it means "a person who knows the latest news or gossip," and had a good laugh. The Library Trustbees emerged the winner of that most-difficult round.

Onto Swarm C where the word P-A-S-T-I-M-E quickly knocked out one team who included a second "T" in the center, with the others falling away on H-I-R-S-U-T-E,
and S-A-C-R-I-L-E-G-I-O-U-S leaving the PTBees, Ronit Fisher Angela Manson, Neela Mathias to go onto the final round.

In Swarm D of SHS students, three teams were quickly knocked out by the word A-B-S-C-E-S-S and the remaining teams spelled macabre, lacquer and feign correctly until the double H in B-E-A-C-H-H-E-A-D left the B Sharps with Harry Chalfin, Justin Cooper and Charlie Musoff to battle the adults in the finals.

After refreshments and a wonderful trivia quiz for the audience led by Carolyn Mehta and Christine Bensche, the four finalists were back to see who would take the title for 2014. While in the previous round teams wrote the words on erasable boards and held them up for the judges to review, this round was done orally with a representative from each team taking the mike without notes to spell the word.

Unfortunately the pressure of the oral presentation was too much for the teen team who was knocked out when they forgot the "A" in
D-I-A-P-H-R-A-G-M though they remembered the "G." The Presbeeterians lost the contest by including an "I" rather than an "E" in
C-U-R-V-A-C-E-O-U-S leaving the Library Trustbees to battle the PT Bees for first place. They traded some difficult works including "grosgrain" "inchoate" and "chartreuse" until the PT Bees tripped up by using a "U" rather than a "Y" in D-I-P-T-Y-C-H (a pair of painted or carved panels that are hinged together). Seth Ross of The Library Trustbees advanced to the mike to spell M-I-S-C-H-I-E-V-O-U-S and won the contest for the TrustBees for the second year in a row. (Last year's winners included Ross, Barbara Josselshon and Warren Breakstone.)

Awards were announced by Christine Bensche and presented by three adorable little B's. Everyone in the audience was smiling and had visions of letters dancing in their heads.

Friends of the Library Say Thank You!

To the Editor: On behalf of the Friends of the Scarsdale Library, we would like to express our gratitude to so many in the community for making our fourth Spelling Bee a tremendous success. The funds raised will be used to upgrade the Library's lobby and entryway.

Our congratulations to all the team members and particularly to our winning team, the Library Trust-Bees (Seth Ross, Terri Simon, and Florie Wachtenheim)!

We would like to thank our fantastic emcee Ed Coleman; our judges NYS Assemblywoman Amy Paulin, Deputy Mayor Jonathan Mark and Spelling Bee Committee member Margaret Smith; our photographer Larry Smith; our tech crew including Steve Bogardus, Dave Berry, and Kamal and Rohan Mehta; and our many "worker bees" who helped out during the evening.

Please support our generous sponsors: Platinum: Thomson Reuters; Diamond: Mercedes-Benz of White Plains, Paul Hastings LLP, and Sara & Rick Werder; Gold: Country Bank, Houlihan Lawrence, Julia B. Fee Sotheby's International Realty, Drs Renu & Anil Lalwani, and Margaret & Laurence Smith; and Silver: Christine & John Bensche, Buzz Potential Inc, Coldwell Banker, Linda & Jonathan Flaxer, Frank's Home Improvements, Drs Lopa & Mantu Gupta, Prudential Centennial Realty, Rachele Rose Day Spa, William & Cynthia Roberts, Vintology, and A.G. Williams Painting Company. Numerous "Friends of the Bee" also made donations to help us achieve our goal.

Our heartfelt appreciation to TestTakers for donating an SAT study course; our other auction and raffle donors (Pole Position Dance & Fitness, Rachele Rose Day Spa, Skin TheraP, SoulCycle, Steve Sohn's Jujitsu Concepts/Krav Maga, and Yoga Station); our team prize donors (BlueQ.com, Chat, Eastchester Fish Gourmet, Masala Kraft, Moscato, and Patisserie Salzburg); and our refreshment donors (DeCicco Family Markets, Fresh Market and ShopRite).

And we are BEEholden to our unBEElievable committee: Christine Bensche, Liz Blagg, Ellen Brodsky, Mona Longman, Carolyn Mehta, and Margaret Smith.

Sincerely,
Renu Lalwani and Sara Werder, Spelling Bee Co-Chairs