Spelling bee winner brings it home with jambalaya

Spelling prowess: Larissa Crowder lets go with a big smile after taking the Aiken County School District spelling bee Monday, edging second place Tommy Carroll. Staff photo by Rob Novit.

Larisa Crowder has never tasted jambalaya - a popular dish of meat, lots of vegetables and rice.

But the home-schooled seventh-grader knew how to spell it, and that success propelled Larisa to the Aiken County School District spelling bee championship Tuesday.

She edged second-place Tommy Carroll, a sixth-grader at Our Lady Of Peace School in North Augusta; and Justin Walker, a fifth-grader at Greendale Elementary School in New Ellenton.

The rules change when the final two players remain. Eventually, Tommy misfired on the word "beatific," which means having a blissful appearance. By the rules, Larisa had to spell two words correctly and consecutively. She got through "timorously" (full of fear) before navigating through "jambalaya."

As the champion, Larisa qualifies for the regional spelling bee, scheduled in Augusta in March. The winner of that event will go on to the national contest in Washington, D.C.

The district bee was sponsored by the school district, URS and Savannah River Remediation and the Aiken Standard.

Larisa received a laptop computer from SRR's Dean Campbell, who also provided each student a $100 gift certificate from Books-A-Million. SRR also hosted a reception after the event.

The Aiken Standard donated plaques to Larisa and Tommy. The newspaper's ASTV station televised the spelling bee live, and encore performances will air periodically over the next few weeks.

Charlie Tyler, a school district federal programs staffer, coordinated the event and served as pronouncer. The judges were school district staffers Sharon Kahl and Dr. Rosa Ishmal, and Jeff Wallace, retired Aiken Standard editor.

Larisa said she felt comfortable with the last two words, having studied the provided word list thoroughly at home.

"I guess I was a little nervous then," she said. On the prospect of a trip to Washington with a regional win, Larisa added, "That would be really cool."

She thought she had been eliminated early in the match when she missed a word. However, the judges decided she had not understood the word as pronounced and Larisa was given another word.

Much later, Justin Walker misspelled a word, and the judges discussed the somewhat similar situation for about seven minutes before agreeing that Justin would be eliminated. After the match, all three judges congratulated him on his graciousness with the decision, noting he would have three more chances in the spelling bee competitions.

Tommy Carroll finished third in the contest in 2010 and moved up a spot. He, too, will have two more opportunities.

"I just like to read a lot of books," Tommy said of his spelling prowess.

All 12 finalists finished first or second at regional bees in the past few weeks. The other contestants included Ivey Li, Schofield Middle School; Stephen Havasy, North Augusta Elementary School; Sebastian Bach, Midland Valley Prep; Jonathan Robinson, Clearwater Elementary School; Jade Cofield, Aiken Middle School; Miranda Middlebrooks, Ridge Spring-Monetta Elementary/Middle School; Steven Lambert, Jackson Middle School; Cameron Shiffner, Busbee Corbett Elementary Middle School; and Wilson Parrish, Millbrook Elementary School.

Senior writer Rob Novit, a journalist for the past 41 years, joined the Aiken Standard staff in 2001. He covers education news and general assignments.