The Sheridan Student Union held a spelling bee at Trafalgar Campus’s The Marquee on January 21 at 7 p.m. An SSU events assistant – who did not want their name published – said the event was held to engage students on campus and that the prize money came from the student’s union budget.
“Whether or not it’s academic based or not academic based, it’s there to support students and give them a new environment where they can network with other students and have fun. It’s also a great way to use the space we have on campus, The Marquee is a beautiful spot,” the events assistant said.
Turnout looked low and less than 15 people showed up for the event. Empty, brown tables were illuminated by yellow spotlights lined in the ceiling of the restaurant. Three round, red booths were off to one side. The majority of the event’s spectators sat at one of the booths together.
Second year Interaction Design student Omer Landau sat with a friend who was also participating in the spelling bee at another booth. Landau said it was his first time attending a spelling bee.
“I’ve been looking up some words online . . . I think I’ll be at least top 50 percent,” Landau said, before the spelling bee began.
The contestants were called up to the stage and sat in a row on black chairs atop a black stage. One-by-one, they were called to a microphone at the front of the stage to spell their word. They could have the word defined and used in a sentence. If they spelled the word incorrectly they were given one more chance to spell the word again.
The restaurant had a relaxed and playful atmosphere. Words spelled correctly by contestants were met with raucous applause. Eliminations were greeted with warm, sympathetic applause as if to say: “You did your best.”
Words that eliminated contestants were: sarcasm, marooned, separate, abhorrent, acquiesce, and occurrence.
After spelling F-O-R-F-E-I-T correctly, Landau was named Trafalgar’s spelling bee champion and left the stage $100 richer.
