Framingham Public Schools
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Helping pay the price for educational creativity By Julia Spitz Metrowest Daily News November 15, 2007 Last night, my colleagues (and fellow bloggers) Nicole Simmons, Linda Noble and I represented the newspaper in the annual Framingham Education Foundation spelling bee. To cut to the chase, we didn’t win. We didn’t get past the first round. Embarrassing? Perhaps. But we were hardly alone in our grouping of five teams going head-to-head. Only teachers from McCarthy Elementary (aka the McCarthy Word Nerds) knew assiduously was not spelled asiduously. Clearly, Linda, Nicole and I weren’t assiduous enough. Turns out assiduous means “marked by careful unremitting attention or persistent application.” While the McCarthy team had what it took to beat the likes of us, they weren’t tough enough to take the trophy. The Framingham State College team, made up of Daniel Cohen, Sue Dargan and Margaret Storch, took top honors by correctly spelling “quatorzain,” a poem of 14 lines resembling a sonnet. Coldwell Banker’s team “put up a very good fight,” according to Bee organizers, and were in the final round along with McCarthy, Genzyme and ERA Key Realty. We all got a wonderful supper of ziti, stuffed shells, a magnificent salad, bread, cake and soda, out of the deal. Plus we all had fun. And the Framingham Education Foundation, which funds mini-grants for educational programs throughout the town’s school system, raised in the neighborhood of $9,000. Win, win, win. Plus, “nobody went down on the first word, which is good,” said Jane Eyler, the foundation’s executive director. Teams participating last night came from each of the town’s schools, plus local businesses and organizations: The Barbierians, Board of Selectmen, BLOCKS Pre-School; The Brophy Buzzers; Cameron Middle School, Coldwell Banker, Dunning Elementary, ERA Key Realty; Framingham Arts Movement for Excellence, Framingham State, Framingham High teachers and staff, Fuller T V-tek Team, Genzyme Corp., Hemenway, MetroWest Daily News, McCarthy, Potter Road Spellers, Framingham High Raging Palindromes, Stapleton Elementary, the Superintendent’s Office, Unilever/Breyers Ice Cream, Walsh Wild Cats, Whole Foods Market and Woodrow Wilson Wizards. A big hand to all, even those of us who weren’t assiduous enough to make a splash. |
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