How Do You Spell Victory? 'H-A-R-V-A-R-D'

Undergraduate team takes first in Cambridge Family YMCA Spelling Bee

By Debra Bradley Ruder

Gazette Staff

Most people have never heard of an empannage, let alone know how to spell it.

Fortunately, three Harvard undergraduates knew both and proved it on Feb. 29 at the first annual Cambridge Family YMCA Spelling Bee.

A team composed of Matthew Carter '99, Karen Paik '99, and Felicia Wu '98 stung the team from M.I.T. to capture the championship and to help raise $7,000 for the YMCA's youth and camp programs. They competed against spellers of all ages and backgrounds.

The Harvard squad, dubbed the "Hive-ard," was sponsored by the Office of the Assistant to the President and the Office of Government, Community and Public Affairs.

"Harvard's involvement reflects a broader commitment to the vitality and quality of life in the Cambridge community," said Jackie Benson Jones of the Office of the Assistant to the President. "Several Cambridge businesses, along with the Cambridge City Council, sponsored teams for the event."

The Harvard contingent won by correctly spelling such toughies as aubade (a song or poem greeting the dawn), jicama (a tropical plant) and empannage (the tail of an airplane).

First-year students Carter and Paik are experienced spelling bee-ers. Both began competing in the fifth grade and, as it turns out, sat next to each other at the 1991 nationals.

Paik, of San Francisco and Canaday Hall, said this competition was less pressured than others because teammates conferred with each other and then wrote down their answers on a chalkboard. She attributes her knack for spelling to a love of books. "I read a lot when I was little, and I still do," she said. "You develop a feel for how words should look."

Carter, of Richmond, Va., and Grays Hall, said the trio has been invited back next year and, he believes, would gladly accept.

Although Wu has not had much experience spelling in the spotlight, she -- like Carter and Paik -- belongs to Harvard's College Bowl academic quiz team and is accustomed to thinking quickly on her feet.

"I had a really good time," said Wu, an applied mathematics and environmental science concentrator from Warminster, Pa., and Kirkland House.

YMCA President Richard Foot was pleased that the event not only raised money but also brought together a diverse group of participants.

"It was such a wonderful mix," he said. "You had corporate people, homeless people, and city councilors. There was even a team from Central House, the YMCA residence for low-income men with histories of homelessness, chronic mental illness, substance abuse, and AIDS. They came in third -- behind Harvard and M.I.T. They were elated."