Published: May 08, 2008 04:22 pm            

City of J’ville team wins spelling bee

By Raymond Billy

rbilly@jacksonvilleprogress.com

Don’t be surprised if you see city officials sporting pompadours in the next few days. That’s because the hairstyle was spelled correctly by the city-employee team to win the 14th annual Corporate Spelling Bee at the Norman Activity Center on Wednesday.

The team — which was sponsored by Love’s Nest and comprised of Kenneth Doman, Willie Jones and Ken Ripkowski — beat out the team sponsored by the Crisis Center of Anderson and Cherokee Counties to win the first-place trophy. Ripkowski said the event inspired him to dust off his orthography skills.

“I used to be a pretty good speller so I found Ken, and Ken found Willie and we teamed up and studied a little bit and came out on top,” Ripkowski said.

The purpose of the event was to raise funds for the Jacksonville Literacy Council.

Patrons in attendance enthusiastically cheered the nine teams participating in the contest. But, the most boisterous individuals on hand were the members of organizations sponsoring teams in the bee. Toward the end of the contest, Crisis Center officials chanted in support of their team “Pork chop, pork chop, greasy, greasy; we'll beat your team easy, easy.”

Nancy Sonntag, director of the Literacy Council, was delighted by the energy exhibited at the spelling bee.

“It’s wonderful to see community involvement and everyone having a good time and cheering for each other,” she said. “That’s part of what makes the event really, really special.”

Sonntag said more patrons attended this year’s event than last, meaning a greater amount of money was raised.

“I think it was very successful. I don’t have a definite number, but it feels like we had quite a bit more people in attendance. We even had to bring out an extra table and chairs just to seat all of the people who came in,” Sonntag said.

Sonntag said the Literacy Council likely surpassed its fundraising goal.

“We try for $3,000. It’s hard to tell at this point but that’s what we’re hoping for and it could be that it’s actually going to be more than that this year,” she said. “We appreciate the community, the teams and the support of everyone involved.”

Sonntag said although the spelling bee raised a substantial amount of money, those funds will only sustain the organization for a limited time, given its constant need to replace and maintain equipment and materials.

“Right now, we’re having a record number of students and the books are $15 a book. We have office expenses and our copier just died right before this event, so there’s going to have to have a new copier.

“I just placed an order for around $400 worth of books, and its pretty routinely that I do that. The students need their own books. Some of them have never owned a book before and they’re very proud of those books. So, we actually give the students the books after they’ve completed the book,” Sonntag said.

In spite of its financial burdens, Sonntag said, the Literacy Council gets its share of community support.

“There are individuals and organizations that help pay our expenses. The civic clubs like the Rotary and Kiwanis clubs contribute by sponsoring a team in the spelling bee, which is $300 for an entry fee. That’s a good contribution.

“I would say the civic organizations in Jacksonville are very, very good to our organization.”

        

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