The Alliance for Literacy, a non-profit group working to extnd literacy to everyone in the Gainesville, GA area, held a fun fund-raiser last night – a team spelling Bee. Seven teams from Brenau Universityu, First Baptist Church, Lanier Technical College, First United Methodist Church, the Gainesville Rotary, Hall County Library, The Gainesville Times and Grace Episcopal Church.
Held at the Hosch Theater on the Brenau University campus, the Godspellers from Grace Episcopal were the nights winners. Amy Bussler spelled the final word – umami – correctly for the win. She was joined by teammates, Rob Harris and Jack Park. Together they sqeaked out a victory over the Lanier Technical College Word Nerds
From the report in the Gainesville Times;
The event went eight rounds before the field was narrowed to the final two teams. In the finals, both teams correctly spelled their first six words. After the Grace team correctly spelled their seventh word in the finals, the Lanier team misspelled farraginous on its next turn. Harris then spelled the same word and Bussler followed with umami to claim victory.
The fundraiser offered all teams a one-time opportunity to buy their way back into the event when they misspelled a word for a $100 donation. Every team used the buy-back option at some point. The only word that stumped the Grace team all night was stichomythia, which could have eliminated them in the third round, if they had not been able to buy themselves back into the competition.
image: Team Godspellers members Jack Park, right, Amy Bussler, and Rob Harris walk away from the microphone Tuesday night at the Brenau University Hosch Auditorium after misspelling their first word during the 26th annual Spelling Bee to benefit the Gainesville-Hall County Alliance For Literacy.