Caduceus is a name that was used in Ancient Greek Mythology to describe a servant or staff member that worked for a higher power. Its symbol is a winged staff with two serpents, but for a group of three Mattapoisett women, caduceus symbolized victory the evening of Friday, March 9 in the auditorium of Old Rochester Regional High School. For the first time in the town’s history, the Mattapoisett PTA put together a community-wide Spelling Bee to raise money for the organization.
‘We were brainstorming different fundraising ideas and I moved here from Nantucket two years ago. I co-chaired the Spelling Bee on the island,” said Amy Wiggin, a Mattapoisett PTA member. “I brought the idea here, and we all loved it. We thought it would be a great community event.”
The competition utilized a team format, where 20 groups of three went head-to-head in five rounds spelling out difficult words on dry erase boards with the hopes of making it to the championship round.
“We were very nervous in the first round,” said Ellen Camacho, a member of the Spellbinders.
Team members included parents, doctors, philosophers, journalists, singers, coaches and many more. The competition was only open to people ages 14 and up, but there were no restrictions on costumes or team spirit, which was in full force.
The Spellbinders, a team comprised of Camacho, Cheryl Almeida and Laura Kearns, defeated the 19 other squads and walked away with a large trophy, t-shirts, and of course, bragging rights.
“It’s so great to be out here supporting the Central School,” said Almeida. “It was Ellen’s idea for us to join. She’s our team leader.”
Fun 107.1 DJ Michael Rock played emcee for the event. Rock has children that are enrolled in the school district. Five preliminary rounds featured four teams spelling words dictated by fourth grade teacher Kevin Tavares. One by one, the teams were eliminated until the last five were standing.
The Velvet Hammers, the Big Kahunas, the Ideal Team, Johnny’s Basement, and of course, the Spellbinders all earned spots in the championship round. Each team was successful in spelling odorous, scruple, rogue, pseudo and pugilist. However, when the time came to spell caduceus, only one team was victorious.
“The winning word was definitely the hardest one we had to spell,” said Almeida.
The victory didn’t come easy for the Spellbinders, who are all employed in the Old Rochester Business Office. They had been preparing hard for the weeks leading up to the Bee.
“We printed lists off the Internet and we studied those,” said Kearns. “But I think it was our natural backgrounds that helped us the most.”
The Velvet Hammers earned the runner-up honors by correctly spelling the word blitzkrieg. While not every team walked away with a prize, there was no doubting the success of the event, which took a few months and dozens of volunteers to plan.
“The event got a really good response,” said Wiggin. “Everyone wanted to be a part of it, everyone wanted to help out. We had committee members, teachers, staff, parents and students. We really wanted the community to come together.”
As for the Spellbinders, there are rumors circulating that they will be returning next year for a repeat victory.
“We were talking about that earlier,” laughed Kearns. “We’ll be back. We’ll be back.”
By Katy Fitzpatrick
Team Spellbinders wins the Bee.