BY BERNIE HORNICK
The Tribune-Democrat
LORETTO
January 31, 2009 11:27 pm
—
Kelly Deskevich, 11, of Vinco might not be the Queen Bee. That role would go to her mom, Eileen.
But it’s fair to say Kelly is queen of the bee, the 2009 spelling bee at which she bested 29 middle-school competitors Saturday at St. Francis University.
She now qualifies for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette spelling bee March 21. If she qualifies there, it’s on to Washington and the nationals.
“I’m happy,” the sixth-grader at Holy Name Elementary School in Ebensburg said after her win. Kelly said she practiced at home and gave credit to her coach, Susie McCombie.
She beat eighth-grader Kyle Brashear of Hollidaysburg Area Junior High on the word “octane.’’
But don’t think all the words were so easy.
The contestants had to navigate through words such as salve, interrupt, prairie, adagio, zephyr, quizzically, igneous, rendezvous, archipelago, guillotine, facetious, sarsaparilla and mahimahi.
Kelly’s parents, Eileen and David Deskevich, were as excited as she was with her win.
“It’s déjà vu, instant replay,” David Deskevich said with a broad smile. Their daughter Danielle placed in the same contest two years ago, going on to the Pittsburgh competition.
You could say their spelling success runs in the family.
Maybe it’s h-e-r-e-d-i-t-a-r-y.
Earning third place and the final seat in the Pittsburgh competition was eighth-grader Jenna Bracken of Windber Area Middle School. She bested friend and schoolmate Autumn Bistransky of the seventh grade in a spell-off for third.
“I was really nervous but I think I did well,” said Jenna, daughter of Susan Layton and Tim Bracken. She agreed that she also would have been happy had Autumn gotten third place instead.
Dolly Rosensteel of Ebensburg was among the 100 or so in the audience. She was cheering on her grandson, Alex Way.
“I think it’s real nice for the kids,” she said.
Though Alex got knocked out early, grandma was proud. “He’s a high honors student at school, and he’s been so from day one,’’ Rosensteel said.
Pupils from 15 schools participated at the bee in the Kennedy Student Center.
The pronouncer was Donna Menis, chairwoman of the university’s English department.
Kelly received a trophy, $100 savings bond, St. Francis University sweatshirt, dictionary, thesaurus and four general admission season tickets to the college’s men’s and women’s basketball and football games for 2009-10.
Kyle and Jenna received the same prizes, except for a $50 bond instead of the $100.
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