Spelling Bee Benefits Literacy Coalition

Thanks to some competitive spellers, the Literacy Coalition of Palm Beach County raised more than $42,000 with its Great Grown-Up Spelling Bee. The event took place Oct. 15 at the Harriet Himmel Theater at CityPlace in downtown West Palm Beach.

Nearly 20 teams competed in the spell-off. After 22 rounds, it came down to three teams: Palm Beach State College, NextEra Energy and Duffy Sports Grille All-Stars.

The Duffy’s team clinched the win by spelling the word “encephalon.” PBSC placed second.

The coalition thanks presenting sponsor LegalYou, a division of Ice Legal in Royal Palm Beach; “Bee Hive Sponsor” Publix Super Market Charities; wordmaster Mike Sfiropoulos of PBSC; and the judges. Proceeds will help finance the many programs provided by the coalition.

ABOVE: Great Grown-Up Spelling Bee co-chairs and sponsors (L-R): Rob Gingras, Amanda Lundergan of Ice Legal, Ginny Neal, Ariane Miller, Tom Ice of Ice Legal, Buzzby Book Bee (Ken Montgomery), Lisa Koza and Kristin Calder.