In 1975, Marie Grose Campbell — then a 14-year-old eighth-grader at C.R. Anderson Faculty in Helena — gained the Treasure State Spelling Bee and a visit to the forty eighth annual Nationwide Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C.
She represented Lee Newspapers of Montana. Now, 47 years after successful the state bee and going to the Nationwide Spelling Bee, Campbell is a third-grade teacher at Basha Elementary Faculty in Chandler, Arizona.
“I inform my college students that spelling is essential as a result of individuals want to have the ability to learn what you’ve written, and your writing can be judged on spelling and handwriting when it’s on show,” she mentioned.
Successful a seat within the Nationwide Spelling Bee “taught me the significance of schooling, of working onerous and being decided, of setting targets and dealing to realize them.”
These are phrases of knowledge for eighth-grader Ellette Whitcomb from Sussex Faculty in Missoula, who gained this 12 months’s Treasure State Spelling Bee in March.
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Whitcomb will characterize the world within the 2022 Scripps Nationwide Spelling Bee the week of Memorial Day on the Gaylord Nationwide Resort and Conference Middle in Nationwide Harbor, Maryland. There will likely be 234 rivals on this 12 months’s nationwide contest. Actor LeVar Burton will function host of the nationwide semifinals and finals to be televised reside on ION and Bounce on June 1 and a couple of.
Campbell mentioned successful the Treasure State Spelling Bee and going to the Nationwide Spelling Bee had been unforgettable experiences.
“It was my first journey to Washington, D.C., our first household journey on a aircraft, possibly even my first journey on a aircraft,” she mentioned.
The 2-day spelling competitors was sandwiched into per week of sightseeing and events for the spellers and their households.
“We toured so many locations, ran by way of the rain at night time to see the monuments, and visited our state senator, Mike Mansfield, on the Capitol,” she mentioned.
Mansfield, a Democrat, served within the U.S. Home of Representatives from 1943-1953 and within the U.S. Senate from 1953 to 1977. He was the longest-serving Senate Majority Chief and helped get Nice Society applications by way of the Senate. He died in 2001.
Campbell was greeted by the state’s different senator, Lee Metcalf, on the airport in Helena, when she returned from Washington. Metcalf, additionally a Democrat, served within the U.S. Home of Representatives from 1953 to 1961 and within the U.S. Senate from 1961 till his dying in 1978.
As a particular deal with in 1975, Will Geer, the actor who performed Grandpa Walton on the enduring Nineteen Seventies TV present The Waltons, was available all through the week to movie a TV particular concerning the Nationwide Spelling Bee. He mingled with the spellers and their households, went on sightseeing excursions with them, and carried out a monologue for them.
There have been 79 contestants and Campbell was speller No. 79, the final to method the microphone in every spherical.
“I used to be tremendous nervous as a result of I needed to wait so lengthy, being the final contestant,” she mentioned.
Campbell survived by way of the primary 4 rounds, after which tripped on the phrase “knish,” a Jewish single-serve pie crammed with meat, potatoes and different substances.
“I feel I spelled it ‘k-a-n-i-s-h,’” she mentioned. “I had by no means heard the phrase earlier than, and it wasn’t one I would studied. After the bee, my dad and mom took me out to attempt one.”
She positioned forty ninth and earned $50 in prize cash.
The 1975 winner was Hugh Tosteson Garcia of San Juan, Puerto Rico, the primary contestant from outdoors the 50 United States to win the Nationwide Spelling Bee. He acquired $1,000, a trophy cup, a plaque, and a ruby-set medal.
Campbell went on to earn her bachelor’s diploma in elementary schooling from Carroll School, the place her mom had been on the music school.
She moved to Arizona in 1983, following her boyfriend, Dave, and his household, who had moved there from Montana.
She and Dave have now been married for 34 years, they usually have two grown kids.
Campbell earned her grasp’s diploma in elementary schooling from Arizona State College and has a studying endorsement from Northern Arizona College.
“I’m in 12 months 33 of educating elementary faculty,” she mentioned. “I really like educating third grade as a result of the children are nonetheless curious and enthusiastic about studying, and I all the time attempt to make it enjoyable and fascinating.”
In her spare time, Campbell enjoys studying, touring, scrapbooking, and spending time with household.
Campbell mentioned she’s sometimes instructed buddies and colleagues ― and her college students ― about competing within the Nationwide Spelling Bee.
“The actually cool factor is that my nephew, Andrew Grose, from Wisconsin, certified for the bee in 2009 and 2010,” she mentioned. “I went each years to observe him take part. In 2010, he positioned fifth.”
Seeing the Nationwide Spelling Bee from the opposite facet was eye opening, particularly with how a lot the competition has modified.
“I helped Andrew examine somewhat bit just a few months earlier than his second bee once we had been in California visiting, however they employed a spelling coach and his mother did a variety of the training with him,” she mentioned. “The competitors was at a totally totally different stage from after I competed, with all the media protection, the deliberate occasions, and the excessive stakes prizes.”
Longtime journalist Amy (Ragsdale) Blakely of Knoxville, Tennessee, was one of many 79 contributors within the 1975 Nationwide Spelling Bee. She has spent the previous two years looking down the rivals for a particular venture and has interviewed 46. Extra on Blakely’s work could be discovered right here.