12 teams face off for a spell at Provo Library

PROVO — "Aborigine," calls the announcer, "A person, animal or plant that has been in a country or region from earliest times: Aborigine."

Bree, Trent and Wes Nelson lean over their white board, eyebrows furrowed as they hash it out: Is it spelled "A-B-A" or "A-B-O"? Trent scratches his head. Wes pulls a tape measure out of his pocket protector and twirls it around his fingers nervously. Bree shakes her pony tail and hikes up her suspenders.

"We love the judges," reads the sibling's final answer, scrawled in blue dry-erase marker above the letters A-B-O-R-I-G-I-N-E.

It was the first round of Project Read's Adult Spelling Bee Saturday and "The Nelson Nerds," as they playfully referred to themselves, weren't taking any chances. Twelve teams faced off during the spelling bee at Provo Library at Academy Square, which was organized to raise money to help educate illiterate adults.

A crew of three Provo librarians took home the trophy — an outcome slightly better than other spelling bees Mary Beth Cox, Dawn Andrus and Laura Wadley recalled.

"The last time I was in a spelling bee was in second grade," Wadley said. "I got out in the first round because I forgot to capitalize the 'I' in 'I'm."'

Although the competition was tough — spellers struggled with words like "sudoriferous" and "braggadocio" — the mood stayed spirited. If a team was stumped after the allotted one-minute deliberation, spellers could turn to the audience for feedback, ask a panel of three judges for their opinion or look the word up in the dictionary.

"I didn't want it to be serious or scary like the National Spelling Bee you see on TV," said Shauna Brown, executive director of Project Read. "It's more fun when the audience gets involved and there's not so much pressure to perform."

Hardly anyone was serious.

"The Nelson Nerds," geeky in too-short pants and suspenders, prepped for each round by gathering in a circle and stretching. "The U-Knighted Way," a team of spellers from the United Way, another nonprofit organization, donned cardboard crowns and brandished tinfoil-covered swords before taking the stage. The director of the Provo Library buzzed around in a yellow-and-black striped bee suit.

For most, picking out a team name and a costume was the most time-consuming part of preparing for the spelling bee.