VERO BEACH — A student can get far with good mentoring. And a spelling coach can teach ways to beat the competition and become successful in the spelling bee, an annual, national competition. Sign up for classes now to get a head start during the summer. Call Sami Hashmi (pictured left at competition) at (772) 766-3349 or e-mail at speller57@yahoo.com to sign up. Admission is free. Each year, students across the nation from 4th through 8th grade take tests and participate in contests that test their ability to spell various words. These tests begin at the school-level. If students do well there, they go to the county level and compete against students within the county. Succeeding in that level, a student can qualify for the regional competition. The winner at the regional level gets an all-expense-paid trip to Washington D.C. where he or she can stay in the Grand Hyatt Hotel and take free tours of the city, as well as participate in the national competition. At each level, prizes are also awarded. Schools award certificates, counties and regions may award money, and at nationals, the prizes are much greater. The winner of the National Spelling Bee last year received over $40,000 in cash and prizes.
