June 13, 2006 > Doner and the Bee

by Gary Leatherman

The 24th Annual Fremont Unified School District Spelling Bee presented at Warwick Elementary School on May 25 was a real nail-biter. After 54 other spellers were eliminated, the two finalists went through more than 20 words in the last round before one missed. The spellers were so good that the judges had to confer on what to do if they ran out of words.

Finally, runner-up Samyukta Bhat, a Brookvale Elementary School fifth-grader, missed her word and gave Harvey Green Elementary School sixth-grader John Doner the opportunity to correctly spell "thanatotic" for the championship. "Thanatotic" refers to the Greek god of death, Thanatos.

All of the 56 spellers in the annual FUSD bee were winners even before the contest began. Each placed either first or second in one of the spelling bees conducted at the 28 FUSD elementary schools. Culling the group to two finalists required 10 rounds in about three hours and more than 300 words being spelled.

The finalists each received a trophy and the winner was presented with a traveling plaque and a banner to be displayed at his school for the coming year.