SLIDESHOW: Barbierians Repeat As Spelling Bee Champions

Can You spell R-E-P-E-A-T?

As that is what the team from Barbieri Elementary School did Wednesday night at the 23rd Annual Framingham Education Foundation’s Spelling Bee.

The defending champion spellers took home the trophy again by spelling the word shrieval.

The word is an adjective relating to a sheriff -- for example, “The prosecutor is in charge of the shrieval corruption case of Sheriff John Smith.”

The winning team of “Barbierians” were Wendy Habeski, Melissa Figueroa, and Jay Burke.

There were a total of 16 teams in the competition last night.

There were four opening rounds of four teams each. The winner of each round moved on to the finals.

Framingham Community Theatre won the first round. Team members included L.J. Caroll, Kevin Swope, and Tibor Toth.

The Don’t Stop Bee-Leevin’ team from Potter Road Elementary School won the second round. Team members included Ginny Hoehlein, Julie Wold Wagner,and Katie McEwan.

The team from Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage won the third round. Team members included Rudy Caballero, Mervi Cunniningham, and Debra Todisco.

In the final round, each team spelled ”mote” correctly to start the round.

The word ”chifforade, a French culinary term, knocked out the team from Potter Road.

Early on in the championship round, it looked like the word “innominate” would produce the winner, but all three teams left, spelled the word incorrectly.

The word “osteocyte” knocked out the team from Coldwell Banker.

Both remaining teams spelled the word “gnathonic” incorrectly, before the Barbieri team won for the second consecutive year.

Other teams in the spelling bee included:

• Bombastic Brophy Bumble Bee Bunch: Lisa Cohen, Sarah McKeon and Eric Wisineski
• Cameron Middle School: John Greeley, Amy Karidoyanes, and Emily Pinkwas
• Cooking Up A Spell: (Framingham High students) Stefanie Evans, Anna Parra and Christopher Winters
• Framingham Public Schools Central Administration: Superintendent Stacy Scott, Grace Wei and Susan Gravel
• Fuller’s Got Steam: Lori Digisi, Barbara Fine, and Brenda Gonzalez
• Hemenway Tigers: Chad Hershman, Michelle Schorer, and Liz Simon
• King’s Queen Bees: Tracy Black, sabrina Gravanti, and Mia Mulvey
• McCarthy Diagraph Divas: Jennifer Chase, Matt Hanlon, and Heidi Schnabel
• The Sixteeners (Framingham High students) Eli Bondar, Maggie Farese and Ren Hanna
• Stapleton Spelling BEE-Line: Karen Bilodeau, Stephanie Grossman, and Deb Neshe
• Two Bees Or Not Two Bees (Framingham High teachers): Talia Crofut, Catherine Gizelis, and Marisa McPherson
• Walsh Bee-demptions: Maggie Dabrush, Danielle Dowd and Nancy Solomon.

The annual adult spelling bee is a fundraiser for the Framingham Education Foundation. Teams are sponsored by a school, PTO, or company in the community.

The event raises money so the Foundation can award grants to teachers.

The Foundation’s mission is to improve education in the public school district by encouraging innovative approaches to the curriculum by providing grants.

The emcee for the event was David O’Leary of Framingham, who you can hear on the radio on Magic 106.7 in the morning. Kathy O’Leary is the chair of the Foundation’s board of directors.