Smith defends bee title
<p>On left, Clara Greensides, runner-up, and Sabrina Smith, the winner of the 2010 North Idaho Regional Spelling Bee, celebrate after the completion of the competition Saturday afternoon in Boswell Hall Schuler Performing Arts Center at NIC.</p>
<p>From left are co-coordinator Stacy Hudson of the 2010 North Idaho Regional Spelling Bee, Caleb Stedman, awarded fourth place, Helena Kirkland, awarded third place, Clara Greensides, awarded second place, Sabrina Smith, awarded first place, and Mike Patrick, managing editor of the Coeur d'Alene Press.</p>
COEUR d'ALENE - Sabrina Smith missed the word einkorn.
Clara Greensides nailed it.
Greensides, 13, attempted to spell mnemonic for the win, but missed.
Smith, 14, seized the opportunity and put the letters in their proper order.
And for Smith's second win of the North Idaho Regional Spelling Bee - she won last year, too - she spelled quisling. Q-U-I-S-L-I-N-G.
It took a record-breaking number of rounds to get there - because the kids were such darn good spellers, frankly - but with the spelling of the word quisling, Smith now is off to the 2010 Scripps National Spelling Bee in June.
Smith's fully paid trip to the national bee in Washington, D.C., is going to be paid for by Hagadone Newspapers, which also sponsored the event.
A total of 54 fourth- through eighth-grade students from the five northern counties of Idaho competed at Saturday's spelling bee at Boswell Hall Schuler Performing Arts Center on North Idaho College's main campus.
So what are some of the two-time winner's keys to success?
"Never, ever spell fast," said Smith, an eighth-grade student at Christian Center School in Hayden. "Just have a good attitude."
Smith said she prayed during the rounds to stay focused.
Greensides, daughter of Jim and Monica Greensides, was happy with her first performance at the bee.
"It's really neat," she said.
Monica Greensides said, "I'm really proud of her. She's really applied herself."
Greensides, an eighth-grade home school student from Coeur d'Alene, said she knew how to spell mnemonic.
"I got nervous and messed up," she said.
The Smith family, of Rathdrum, all plan to go to Washington, said Smith's parents Stefanie and Shane Smith.
"All of her hard work is paying off," said Stefanie Smith.
Shane Smith said in addition to the hard work his daughter puts into spelling she also reads a lot - some Shakespeare lately - and writes a lot of stories.
And she's learning to handle the pressure of competition, he said.
"She has learned to take her time and think," maybe stall by asking a couple of questions about the word before diving into the spelling, said Shane Smith.
Helena Kirkland, a seventh-grade student from Idaho Virtual Academy in Moscow, finished in third place. Caleb Stedman, a seventh-grade home school student from Rathdrum, finished in fourth place.