Education Extra
Our Lady of Sorrows Catholic (OLS) School 5th grader Violetta Rohr recently competed in the 2019 Scripps National Spelling Bee. She was one of only five Alabama students, and the only one from the greater Birmingham area, who was privileged to qualify and attend the competition in the Washington, D.C. area. “We were so excited for Violetta to represent our school on the national level,” said OLS School Principal Mary Jane Dorn. “She is the first OLS student that we are aware of that has ever attended the National Spelling Bee.”
Rohr advanced through both rounds of the oral competition but fell short to qualify as one of the 50 finalists. The final 50 were determined by taking the top scores from a written test given to all 562 national participants on the first day of the competition. When asked how it felt to be in the national spotlight she said, “I didn’t really think about being in a national competition; it kind of just felt like a normal spelling bee. I felt more pressure competing in front of all my school peers than I felt at Nationals!” This years’ experience has only motivated her to work harder for next year’s contest. “I’ve already started studying hard for next year!” she said. “My goal is obviously to go back and make it to the Finals…and maybe even win!” †
