MIFFLINTOWN -- Alivia "Liv" Foltz and 34 students will gather on Saturday for a good old-fashioned spell-off.
The 13-year-old Foltz, an eighth-grader at Tuscarora Junior High School in Mifflintown, qualified for the 2023 Central Pennsylvania Spelling Bee Grand Championship by surviving three rounds of preliminary tests over the past few months.
"We got the results right away, and I thought I did pretty good," Foltz said. "I wasn't expecting to know if I got in immediately. I compared by score to the other three (contestants)."
After learning that she answered more questions than all of the others - 38 out of 50 - Foltz felt fairly confident she would advance. The confirmation came a few days later in an e-mail.
I'm not so sure about this (advancing), but I was kind of proud of my score," she added. "When we got an e-mail listing everybody that was out of the whole area, I scrolled through, but I wasn't expecting to make it. I saw my name and I was like, 'Holy Crap!'"
More like, H-O-L-Y C-R-A-P!
The grand championship will be held at the WITF Public Media Center, 4801 Lindle Road, Harrisburg. It will also be televised by WITF. The time has not been announced.
The 35 top spellers represent 29 schools from 11 counties in WITF's coverage area. In January, these finalists earned the highest scores among 203 of their peers from 75 schools in a written spelling and vocabulary test.
The last speller standing will earn a spot at the Scripps National Spelling Bee in National Harbor, Md., on May 30.
Foltz took the first-round test in her homeroom class. It consisted of 16 words, which were "all pretty easy," she said.
The second-round test included 15 winners from the sixth, seventh and eighth grades at TJHS. "All the words were pretty easy, but definitely harder," Foltz recalled.
The third test was an online test, taken by the top four students from the previous round. "We all took it online at home," she said. "It was vocabulary and multiple-choice questions.
They gave me four different answers and definitions, and I had to pick the right answer.
"The past few years, people who took the written test have had to go down to Harrisburg and take it in a big room, added Foltz, comparing her online test with previous formats. "I'm very glad I didn't have to do that, but I think it would have prepared me more to go on TV."
In the meantime, she and her mom have been practicing for the bee. "I've been studying quite often - usually half an hour each night," she said.
The format for the grand championship is more like a traditional spelling bee where contestants are given a word one at a time, and the winner is the last one who manages the correct spelling.
"I'm very nervous," Foltz said. "I feel like I'm going to stutter or something."
She's pleased to have reached the upcoming bee. "I get very excited to hear my name on the loudspeaker at school," Foltz said.
"I would like to get in the top 10," she added. "I'd would be very happy with that. I'd love to win."
Central PA Spelling Bee Coordinator Ruth Keim knows how important the spelling bee is to the students who take part in it. "I've grown to love the Bee," Keim said. "It's such a learning experience for the students, and because WITF produces video of the grand championship, we're able to prepare the winner for their experience at the Scripps National Spelling Bee."
Foltz claims to be a math whiz. On her spelling bee bio, she added that the best book she has ever read is "Gregor the Overlander" by Suzanne Collins.
Foltz, who hopes to have a career in music someday, admires Jeremy Jordan for his inspiring singing and acting.
She is the daughter of Doug and Rachel Foltz of Mifflintown. She has two dogs named Molly and Winnie and a cat, Sophie.
See who wins by tuning in to WITF on Channel 33 or streaming the Grand Championship highlights at witf.org/bee or on the WITF YouTube channel on April 1.