Let's Bee Friends
Launch the media gallery 1 playerTori's and Emmah’s top concern was not whether they would do well at the Sumner County Spelling Bee, but whether they would get to sit next to each other.
Tori Morrison and Emmah Phillips have been friends for years. Because of their last names being alphabetically close, they were able to sit next to each other at the Argonia’s bee earlier this year, in which Tori placed 1st and Emmah 2nd. Would they be allowed to sit next to each other again?
As it turned out, the October 13th county bee in Wellington had 30 participants, who would not be seated alphabetically, but randomly. Tori and Emma were the first ones to draw numbers for their bee placement. Emma drew #3! That meant she would have to go early in each round— oh, the horror!— and she was terribly nervous.
Tori was equally nervous. She drew her number.
#1.
The odds were against the two friends sitting next to each other— but they did get to be close. And when the student between them was eliminated, these friends were reunited.
Emmah made it to round five, outlasting half of the contestants, tripping up on the word “activists”. Tori lasted another round, beating out 21 other students and tying for 7th place; her final word was “pedestrian”.
Both girls were surprised by how well they did, and how much they enjoyed the experience, despite being initially nervous. “It’s not as scary as you think it’s going to be,” Emmah explained.
“When you get there and you start spelling,” Tori added, “it’s not that bad.” They were both proud that they went, and they enthusiastically encouraged others from Argonia to try their best for next year’s bee.
