MELISSA BLOCK, HOST:
There is no shortage of wonders on display at the Scripps National Spelling Bee, under way this week outside Washington, D.C. Students are easily spooling off words such as wiesenboden and machicotage. But even the Scripps Bee judges were flummoxed when 7th grader Katie Danis made this request today.
KATIE DANIS: Would you mind if I were to, like, sing the letters, it would help me. I could do that.
BLOCK: The judges conferred, and said OK. So here's Katie Danis, sing-spelling stabilimeter.
DANIS: (Singing) S-T-A-B-I-L-I-M-E-T-E-R, stabilimeter.
BLOCK: Katie Danis got it right, but she did not make it to the semifinals. The singing? Believed to be a spelling bee first.
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ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:
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