News

Team up for old-fashioned spelling bee fundraiser

Posted March 01, 2009 10:00 pm

By Kathy Slovik Daily Herald Columnist

At the Glen Ellyn Children's Resource Center, volunteer tutors like Annie Kennedy help children like Andrea Tapia, 10, of Glen Ellyn, improve their literacy and language skills. Paul Michna | Staff Photographer

Do you like to work crossword puzzles and contemplate word- search games? Does your blood pressure go up just a little when you encounter typos and misspellings in newspapers and books? Do you spell-check your grocery list?

If so, then get ready to be spellbound when representatives from Glen Ellyn organizations and businesses set out to show just how smart they are. Local teams will compete in SPELLAPALOOZA!, a unique fundraiser, on Friday, March 13, at Glenbard West High School.

The event will benefit the Glen Ellyn Children's Resource Center, a nonprofit organization that provides after school and literacy programs to children from local low-income families. According to Laura Glaza, a volunteer board member for the center, this fundraiser is a good fit for the center's philosophy.

"We wanted a fundraiser that had a connection to literacy," said Glaza. And there was another advantage. "No one else was doing it."

Glaza predicts that the event, modeled after an old-fashioned spelling bee that got its start in the early 1800s, would be a good time.

"It puts people on the spot to spell. That's part of the fun," said Glaza, adding that three-person teams will compete together, eliminating individual humiliation. "The team submits the spelling."

Beginning, intermediate and advanced spelling words chosen for the competition were selected from Paideia, the National Spelling Bee Book and Webster's International Dictionary.

SPELLAPALOOZA! organizers offered some sample words that will not be used in the actual competition to give an idea of the sorts of words that will be included. They are: accessible, chauffeur, identify, intensity, labyrinth, obedient, preferential, saunter, translucent and virtue.

To compound the fun, audience members will be able to play along from their seats with a Glen Ellyn Children's Resource Center pencil and SPELLAPALOOZA! memo pad. Prizes will be awarded to certain winners in the spectator gallery, and entertainment will take place between spelling rounds. The event will be emceed by WBBM-TV news anchor Don Schwenneker.

The first-place team will receive a plaque along with other prizes donated by Glen Ellyn businesses. The winners of the Team Spirit award will take the cake - literally - by bringing home a cake from the Flour Barrel Bakery.

Judges for the competition include Dawn Bussey, Glen Ellyn Public Library director; Peter Cooper, incoming Glen Ellyn village board member; and Pamela Zimmerman, associate superintendent for educational services for Glenbard High School District 87.

Each team will pay a registration fee of $500. Teams must register by today to be included in the printed program, Glaza said.

"We're still looking for teams," Glaza said.

The lineup includes teams from Glen Crest Middle School, Glen Ellyn Elementary District 41, Glen Ellyn Public Library and Lincoln Elementary School, which is the home to the children's resource center.

The Glen Ellyn Children's Resource Center has a mission to assist children from low-income families to acquire the academic and social skills needed to succeed in school.

The center began in 2002 and originally served mostly children of residents of Parkside Apartments in Glen Ellyn. Over the years, its impact and influence has evolved and grown. The recently renamed Glen Ellyn Children's Resource Center operates in space donated by District 41 at Lincoln Elementary School in Glen Ellyn and is open from 3 to 6 p.m. weekdays. Assisting the one paid staff member at the center is a dedicated group of volunteer workers who focus on literacy.

"Many parents are working full time. What do you do with that hour between after school and when the parent comes home?" Glaza said. "The literacy aspect is crucial, particularly with kids from other countries."

The center provides tutoring in all subjects, with a focus on serving students for whom English is a second language. More than half of the children who attend the center are refugees whose families have fled their native countries because of political conflict or fear of persecution because of race, nationality or religious beliefs.

"Refugees are here because they have to be. They come here with nothing," Glaza said.

SPELLAPALOOZA! organizers hope the event will raise money and awareness for the Glen Ellyn Children's Resource Center.

Tickets, $5 each, are available at the door or in advance at Renaissance Art Studio, 481 N. Main St., Glen Ellyn. To reserve tickets or for information about registering a team, call Kasey Sanders O'Connell at (630) 605-7247.

SPELLAPALOOZA! will begin at 7:30 p.m., Friday, March 13, in the auditorium at Glenbard West High School, 670 Crescent Blvd., Glen Ellyn.

For information about Glen Ellyn Children's Resource Center, visit gecrc.org.

• Kathy Slovick writes about Glen Ellyn.

Natalya Marines, 7, of Glen Ellyn, works on her homework at the Glen Ellyn Children's Resource Centers. Paul Michna | Staff Photographer

The Glen Ellyn Children's Resource Center provides after-school tutoring. SPELLAPALOOZA! will raise money for the center and its literacy programs. Paul Michna | Staff Photographer

Tutor Mary Ellyn Crowley helps Jessica Aguilar, 7, of Glen Ellyn, with her reading skills during the Glen Ellyn Children's Resource Center's after school tutoring program at Lincoln Elementary School. Paul Michna | Staff Photographer

SPELLAPALOOZA! Why: To support the Glen Ellyn Children's Resource Center When: 7:30 p.m. Friday, March 13 Where: Glenbard West High School auditorium, 670 Crescent Blvd., Glen Ellyn Cost: $5 for tickets; $500 to enter a three-person team Info: (630) 605-7247

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