Senath-Hornersville student discusses National Spelling Bee participation

Scotty Tingle, eighth grade student at Senath-Hornersville Middle School recently presented on his experience as a participant in the National Spelling Bee.

Tingle shared his story during a Kennett Rotary Club meeting.

“I took the test to participate and missed four out of twenty,” said Tingle. “That was the best anyone at the school got.”

It was then off to Three Rivers College in Poplar Bluff for the Annual Southeast Missouri Regional Spelling Bee competing with 120 students.

“There were nine left in the Championship Round,” informed Tingle. “I started thinking I might win this.”

Tingle continued, “Eventually, there were three spellers left. We kept going back and forth spelling words.”

“When there was only two of us left we both spelled a word wrong,” he added. “In the Championship Round you just have to continue to break the tie.”

“I won that tie-breaker,” said Tingle. “I had never heard of that word up until then. The word was H-I-E-R-O-G-R-A-M. It means religious symbol.”

“They announced, congratulations Scott Tingle, you’re headed to the National Spelling Bee. I won. It was very exciting,” he said.

A plane ride with his mother followed in May of this year.

“It was my first time flying, as well as, my mom’s first time,” shared Tingle. “Taking off and landing are the worst parts.”

Tingle stated, “Ater we landed at Ronald Reagan Airport in Washington, D.C. we ordered a Uber, and went to the Gaylord National Harbor Hotel.”

“It was the fanciest hotel I’ve ever been in,” he stated. “They had bellhops!”

Tingle provided on the prep and the spelling bee itself.

“There’s a PDF document with every possible word that they could ask you from the preliminaries to the final parts,” he said. “I was also given this app which gave me a bunch of different words, and a dictionary to study even more.”

Tingle continued, “As far as the National Spelling Bee, I didn’t get very far. I placed 192 out of 235 people.”

Tingle visited many of the attractions in Washington, D.C. while on his trip.

“We went to the FDR Memorial,” he said. “It’s about the size of a football field. It’s got statues of him and Eleanor everywhere.”

Tingle informed, The FDR Memorial is probably my favorite of all of them. It was so interesting.”

Tingle also visited Mount Vernon, George Washington’s residence.

“It’s such a beautiful place,” he said. “There is a fireplace in every room, because lights did not exist back then.”

Tingle has many hobbies including drawing and playing video games.

Concerning his trip to Washington, D.C.,Tingle concluded, “We have a great history as a country, fighting and defending freedom.”