T. E. A. C. H. E. R. Teacher.

Several TISD faculty members formed two teams and competed in the 21st Annual Corporate Spelling Bee held on April 11 at the CABE Center, benefiting the Literacy Council of Bowie and Miller Counties Inc. Texarkana, TX ISD placed third overall.

“The Literacy Council conducts a spelling bee every year,” Literacy Council Board Member Glenda Ballard said. “This is one of our largest money-makers, fundraisers. This year I’m serving as a word judge.”

Administration went up against teams from Texarkana Gazette, EZ Mart, Texarkana College, Healthcare Express and Texas A&M University Texarkana.

“We had nine teams here today,” Ballard said. “They are sponsored or their companies have paid entrance fee which is $250, and those teams get a series about 100 words that they get to study.”

The teams then compete, with majority spelling all 100 words correctly. Many move into tie-breaker rounds and compete with unseen words, making the difficulty level much higher.

“It demonstrates to the community how passionate they are about education,” Ballard said. “It is a good sense of camaraderie, but also community spirit.”

Not only does this event promote education for all, but also stimulates a competitive nature for local organizations.

“This is a national effort that has gone on for a number of years,” Ballard said. “It touches the hearts of all of us, but it is also something that people get passionate about and very competitive about because we do award a trophy, and that is something that the businesses, industries or the school districts that are often sponsored by get a chance to really have a claim to fame.”