Twenty-nine students in grades 4 through 8 participated in the contest, which was directed by middle school Language Arts teacher Shea Youell and scored by teachers Leslie Cole and Susan O'Neal.

The spellers were competing for the chance to represent Ocracoke School in the regional Spelling Bee on March 17th in Washington, NC. 

The words Mr. Youell asked them to spell came from an official Scripps National Spelling Bee list, and they get more difficult as the rounds progress. The students were encouraged to ask questions before they began to spell. They could ask the word's definition and/or language of origin, and request that Mr. Youell use it in a sentence. (The sentences are also pre-written and provided by Scripps.) 

Ten students made it to round two, and after the second round was over, only two kids were left standing: 7th grader Dylan Sutton and 8th grader Caroline Temple. Caroline spelled "sphinx" correctly, but Dylan misspelled "colossal," leaving Caroline to spell "diminutive" for the win. (Um... it took this writer three tries with the aid of spellcheck to get colossal right. Who would guess it only has one "l" in the middle?)

Caroline has competed twice before in the Downeast Regional Spelling Bee in "little" Washington. Both times she misspelled her word in the third round. That competition usually goes 10 -15 rounds and the champion wins a trip to "big" Washington (D.C.) to compete in the Scripps National Spelling Bee.