Kilby Shores teachers win Grown-Up Spelling Bee

The crowd was buzzing Saturday, as Kil-Bee’s Revenge of the Words buzzed in for a stinging victory in the Suffolk Education Foundation’s first Grown-Up Spelling Bee.

The Kil-Bees — Kilby Shores Elementary School teachers Debbie Rasberry, Rishi Sood and Amy Austin — correctly spelled the word “finagle” to defeat the runner-up team, Alpha Bees. The Alphas included David Guimenz and teachers Jill Gwaltney and Paige Kluck, from Pioneer and Booker T. Washington elementary schools.

Based on preliminary estimates, the spelling bee raised about $8,000 for the foundation, said SEF Executive Director Renyatta Banks. Although the proceeds aren’t designated for a specific use, they will be used to further the foundation’s goal of improving education through instructional grants and scholarships.

“I think we did a lot better than we expected, financially,” Banks said. “We honestly did not know how we would do, but the sponsors and teams kept stepping up.”

While most of the 15 costumed teams represented schools in Suffolk, several businesses, city departments and a sorority also participated.  The Suffolk News-Herald’s team, Typographical Airers, won for best costumes, with newsroom staff Res Spears, Tracy Agnew and Jen Jaqua dressed up as Wite Out, a Papermate red pen and a Pink Pearl eraser.

Most members of Kil-Bee’s Revenge confessed to extra studying for their public spelling test.

“I’m a decent speller, but once I committed, I stayed up until midnight studying the words,” Austin said. She also wrote down random words selected from the 2013 Scripps National Spelling Bee list three times.

“It was exhilarating,” said Rasberry, a first-grade teacher and self-professed word fanatic, who says she always keeps a dictionary close at hand. “The randomness of the word (difficulty) levels kept me on my toes.”

The victory was icing on the cake for Sood, who said he went into the contest with the goal of outlasting Suffolk School Superintendent Dr. Deran Whitney’s team.

“I certainly wasn’t expecting to win,” said Sood, a fifth-grade special education teacher. He said he didn’t spend any extra time preparing for the spelling bee.

“I had a blast, and the foundation did a wonderful job,” he said. “We were on Cloud Nine … when we walked into the school with our trophy today.”