“Civitas” helped defeat local spelling bee champ
Sheffield Lake teen Thomas “Tom” Camp`s dreams of victory in the Scripps National Spelling Bee ended with words such as hierophant and civitas.
Tom, 13, was among 252 spellers eliminated Wednesday in the bee in Washington, D.C.
Just 41 young people advance to tonight`s championship finals.
Tom correctly spelled hydrocarbon in Round Two but misspelled hierophant in Round Three on Wednesday.
Tom, the winner of The Chronicle-Telegram`s 26th Annual Spelling Bee in March, said he enjoyed the experience but was a little worn out on Wednesday night.
“I had enough spelling to last a lifetime,” Tom said.
Those who will participate in the finals spelled both words correctly in Round Two and Round Three and scored well in the written test on Tuesday, which comprised Round One, according to Tom`s mom, Jill Camp.
In the written test, students spell 50 words and 25 of the words are graded.
Tom missed eight words including civitas (a body of citizens who constitute a state) and onychorrhexis (extreme brittleness of nails), Jill Camp said.
With civitas, Tom`s downfall was listening to the Latin pronunciation, which is “kee-wi-tahs.” It sounded like “kiwi-toss,” so that`s how Tom spelled it.
Tom, an eighth-grader at Sheffield Lake Middle School, said Round One - the written test - was a combination of easy and hard words.
Many bee participants, including Tom, breezed through Round Two but were stumped and missed words in Round Three.
“Round Three was a whole different level,” he said.
In Round Three, Tom incorrectly spelled hierophant - chief priest of the Eleusinian mysteries in ancient Greece - as “hyaraphant.”
Despite his misspellings, Tom is a hero in the eyes of his dad, Jeff Camp, and his 10-year-old sister, Maddie, who is his biggest fan.
“All of these kids are champions, and he`s one of them,” Jeff Camp said.
The winner of the bee receives $35,000 in cash prizes, an engraved cup and other prizes. Every contestant in Bee Week receives a watch.
Contact Cindy Leise at 329-7245 or cleise@chroniclet.com.
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Filed by May 28th, 2009 in Local and State.
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Congratulations to Tom Camp! You made Lorain County proud. Keep your head held high. Many would have loved to have been in Washington DC in your ’spelling” shoes. Congrats (those were tough words by the way).
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What the heck is “‘Civitas`?
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