Violet Sheen will be competing in the 93rd annual 21-WFMJ Regional Spelling Bee for the third time. The competition takes place at 9 a.m. Saturday at Stambaugh Auditorium in Youngstown. (Submitted photo)

SEBRING — Sebring will be represented at the regional spelling bee Saturday by a multiple time spelling bee winner.

Violet Sheen, 11, will be competing in the 93rd annual 21-WFMJ Regional Spelling Bee. The competition takes place at 9 a.m. Saturday at Stambaugh Auditorium in Youngstown.

Violet will be competing for the third time and is looking forward to representing the district.

“It’s fun, I’ve gotten most of the nerves of doing it out because I’ve done it two times already now,” said Violet.

Violet said that while the word list “is a little bit more challenging” than for a local spelling bee, what makes preparing for the regional bee more difficult “is mostly the nerves.” She said those nerves come in part from having more competitors than at the Sebring spelling bee, many of whom you don’t know, and partially from knowing that people are watching.

“It’s just a little bit different and can change a little bit every time you go. It is a little bit harder than the local spelling bee. It’s a little bit of everything. You’ve got emotions going on, there’s people staring at you, and you don’t necessarily hear the pronunciation the same every time.”

Despite those difficulties, Violet said that she doesn’t change her study method between the Sebring and the regional spelling bee, and that she tries to practice for 10 or more minutes each day.

“There’s not as many fears. It’s still nerve-wracking, but not as much as before. You really don’t change your methods, you just keep trying,” said Violet.

While the knowledge that all the competitors at the regional bee are fellow spelling bee champions and finalists is a common source of anxiety for spellers, Violet said that it doesn’t really affect her mindset when she’s preparing to compete. She said that while it can be easy to overthink things on the day of the competition, she just focuses on doing as well as she can.She said she feels “good and a little bit confident” heading into the regional bee with two years of experience under her belt.

“Sometimes when you wake up you say, ‘oh my gosh, today’s the day I have to go and spell words,’ and when you get in the car you’re thinking, ‘did I study enough.’ And then you have to spell the words, and when you leave it can be a little bit hard but its all right, you just have to try your best,” said Violet.

Violet’s advice for next year’s spellers is simple — practice seriously but don’t get inside their own heads. She also said it was important to remember that there’s lots of factors that can affect their performance on the day of the spelling bee they might not think of in the moment like getting a good night’s sleep and a good breakfast before the spelling bee.

“Practice hard but don’t get yourself too worked up about it because if you do, you’re going to be too nervous to do as well as you can. I would say do your best and whatever happens, happens,” said Violet.

Each contestant will receive a 21-WFMJ Spelling Bee T-shirt, courtesy of 21WFMJ, a school champion certificate and other mementoes for their participation in the bee.

Kent State University at Trumbull is awarding a $2,000 scholarship to the grand champion, as well as $1,000 to the runner-up, and $500 to the third-place student.