BRUNSWICK — Hope Middle School seventh grader Adelaide Lock met stiff statewide competition at Bowdoin College March 25, during the Maine State Spelling Bee. By the end of the day, however, she was in second place overall, out of 22 participating middle school students from all corners of the state.

 

Concentration is everything when it comes to standing in front of a crowd and spelling difficult words. Adelaide persevered for more than two hours, pressing through 19 elimination rounds, correctly spelling thwartwise, calisthenics, hermetically and concision.

 

By the end, it was ebullience that gave her pause (she spelled it with one L instead of two). 

 

The Maine Spelling Bee took place in the Kanbar Auditorium in Bowdoin’s Studzinki Recital Hall. Adelaide’s parents, Holly McBride and Tim Lock, were with her.

 

‘We are so incredibly proud,” said McBride.

 

Evan Trieu, a Portland seventh grader, was this year’s winner, as reported by the Portland Press Herald. He will travel on to represent Maine in the national spelling bee.