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LISBON -- Columbiana County 2024 Spelling Bee Champion Marissa Gatewood said she's nervous about the idea of spelling on the national stage, but she's also excited.
"Even if I don't make it too far, I want to have fun," the Salem seventh grader said during a recent interview.
Marissa, 13, is traveling with her family to compete in the 96th Scripps National Spelling Bee, with the trip sponsored by the Salem News, The Review and the Morning Journal.
She'll be speller number 173 in a group of 245 spellers representing all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Department of Defense Schools in Europe, along with spellers from the Bahamas, Canada and Ghana.
The competition takes place at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland beginning with the preliminaries, which will be aired live on Ion Plus from 8 a.m. to 7:40 p.m. Tuesday. The quarterfinals will be aired live on Ion Plus from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Wednesday, followed by the semifinals from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. Wednesday on Ion. The finals will be aired live from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. Thursday on Ion.
The second round of each segment of competition will include a vocabulary round requiring spellers to orally select the correct multiple choice answer to a vocabulary question read by the pronouncer.
Marissa said she's been preparing with the Scripps National Spelling Bee study guide, with the majority of the words for the bee expected to come from the dictionary. Her mom, Charlotte Leasure, added that the only way to learn for spelling is to get familiar with prefixes, suffixes and word origins.
Marissa didn't expect to get this far. Her journey to the national bee began by winning the Salem City Bee, then the Columbiana County Spelling Bee where she said she winged it.
Her mom, though, said she gets her spelling skills from all the reading and writing she does. Her essays on drug awareness and Americanism made it to state through the Salem Elks.
Marissa said she likes reading fiction and young adult books, mentioning books such as "Little Women," "Miss Spitfire: Reaching Helen Keller," and "Flowers in the Attic," but her favorite book of all time is "The Outsiders" by S.E. Hinton.
When she's not reading or writing, she's playing instruments. She started out with the flute, then switched to alto saxophone and now she's playing tenor saxophone. She's also learning electric guitar. She was a member of Interact also.
According to her bio on the Scripps National Spelling Bee website, "Marissa's hobbies include writing, drawing and music. In fact, she plays five different musical instruments. Her favorite author is American novelist V.C. Andrews, but her favorite book is "The Outsiders" by S.E. Hinton. She's most proud of her academic achievements, such as qualifying for this year's Scripps National Spelling Bee. She spends her free time playing games and hanging out with her family." She listed her favorite animal as the raccoon.
"I'm proud of her academic accomplishments. It made me happy for her to be rewarded for this type of success," her mom said.
Besides her mom, her supporters include her stepdad Craig Leasure, her three older brothers, Markus, 21, Parker, 17, and Kai, 16, and her dad, Steve Gatewood and her stepmom Maggie Gatewood.
For this trip, she'll be accompanied by her mom and stepdad, and brothers Parker and Kai. Her dad might be coming, too.
The family has never traveled to Washington, D.C. before, so both Marissa and her mom said they're looking forward to seeing the sites and tackling the subway. Marissa said she likes museums and art galleries and she also wants to see the Holocaust museum and is interested in learning more about that.
Bee Week includes a picnic on Memorial Day for spellers and their families, a bus tour and a banquet at the end, with free time in between.
She's looking forward to spending time with her family on vacation and having fun when she's not spelling.
"I think I'll do okay, just kind of nervous because of all the people that will be there," she said.
The county bee featured just 37 spellers at the Beaver Local High School auditorium, so the national bee will be much larger, plus it's televised live. The county bee was co-sponsored by the Morning Journal, the Salem News and The Review, along with the Columbiana County Educational Service Center.
Besides a plaque, the champion prizes for Marissa included: an invitation to compete at the 2024 Scripps National Spelling Bee, including a six-night stay at the Gaylord National Resort for the champion and one parent; a one-year subscription to Merriam-Webster Unabridged Online; The Samuel Louis Sugarman Award, a 2024 U.S. Mint proof set; a one-year subscription to Britannica Online Premium; a one-year subscription to Epic Family; eight live, 1-on-1 online coding classes and a one-year home subscription to Tynker.
The winner of the national bee will receive $50,000, plus a commemorative medal and the Scripps Cup.
To learn more about the Scripps National Spelling Bee and follow Marissa's progress, visit www.spellingbee.com.