Washington County Spelling Bee

Last night, Sally and I had just about as much fun as is humanly possible on a cold Thursday night in Brenham. We attended the 56th Annual Washington County Spelling Bee. OMG! This thing was so exciting and so much fun. It started with 27 kids from grades 2 through 8. Each of the kids on the stage had won at their respective bees. Sally had one of her students in it and St. Paul's had four kids total. There was also one of our students from CCE. We were so amazed at how smart these kids were. Incredibly hard words were correctly spelled by kids in all ages. Infact, the winners were two fourth graders and one fifth grader. Sally and I really got into it. We would hold our breath when a hard word came and then cheer when they got it. All of them did great. It took 27 rounds to crown the winner. I cannot express how good it was for me to go to this. With so much bad in the news today about bad kids, it is so comforting to know that for every bad kid that makes the news there are hundreds of great kids that are smart and willing to work hard memorizing spelling words. Special props to Austin Derkowitz who is in our 5th Grade CCE and the third place winner and a very special thanks to all of the kids and parents that made a cynical old man remember that there really is a future for America!