On Monday the organizers held a barbecue for the spellers and their chaperones. One of her favorite parts of the trip was a tour of the Library of Congress on Tuesday. She won her sixth-grade classroom contest and then became the champion of Woodlawn Middle School in Mebane. After she took the combined Orange and Alamance counties competition, she was on her way to Washington. The competition is being held in a hotel ballroom in front of several hundred onlookers as well as photographers and TV cameras.
Contestants sit on the left or right side of a darkened stage according to their assigned number.
When it s their turn to spell, they move to the center of the stage where a lighted microphone awaits. On Tuesday while waiting for her turn, Pressley started to get a little nervous, she said. But when she got to the microphone, she calmed down and tried to spell her word. Contestants who get their word wrong leave the stage and go to a room where they can relax and be consoled by volunteers. Some contestants were crying, others were silent and some were happy to get it over with, according to Pressley.