Under Pressure

The photos from the Scripps National Spelling Bee do a wonderful job of capturing the emotion associated with this event. As I mentioned in Tuesday's blog, the official Web site has a great collection of trivia and resources about the famous contest. But it's the photos that really captured my attention. Here are a couple of my favorites, courtesy of the Scripps site:

1. This poor little guy. He received the dreaded "ding" of the bell, indicating an incorrect spelling. Not sure if he's near tears or just wincing. Or both. (Cute shot, though.)
   

2. Oh, the agony of a missed word...













And my favorite shot of all that I have seen so far is this one:


3. Forget the pressure of letting yourself down, let alone your school, your family, your city, your state... Consider the plight of the poor student facing THE MEDIA in all of this. The media moat in front of the stage would rival a senate hearing. There's even a priest on hand for this event!

Participation in this event gives students an education in more than just spelling. It gives them a taste of life in the 21st century modern world.

By the way, the winning word, if you don't already know by now, was serrefine. Don't know what it means? Do what my mom always told me to do: look it up!