Marblehead continues dominance in Item spelling bee

LYNN – Mitchell Robson helped to continue Marblehead?s streak of winners in the largest and longest contest in The Daily Item?s Regional Spelling Bee?s recent history.Robson, a sixth-grader at Marblehead Community Charter School, outlasted 62 other competitors in an expanded contest that took 29 rounds and nearly 2? hours to complete. The 11-year-old?s final word was “Templar,” a knight of a religious order established in the 12th century in Jerusalem.After 20 rounds that showed only one elimination among four spellers, the contest took a turn in the 28th round, when the judges agreed to find more difficult words. The move worked, knocking out Andeemae Sims, an eighth-grader from Higgins Middle School in Peabody, who came in third, and Shraddha Iyer, a seventh-grader at the Ben Franklin Classical Charter School in Franklin.Robson said he?s been studying the Scripps word list since he won his school?s bee in January, but he said he paid careful attention to the roots of each word and how that affected its meaning, a strategy that served him well, as he often knew the definition of words before the pronouncer. When asked to spell “tchotchke,” he asked, “Is that, like, a toy that falls apart in, like, two seconds?” to laughs from the audience.He said he owed his calm demeanor spelling in front of an audience of hundreds to a training tactic from his brother Will, a 10-year-old who won his own classroom spelling bee at the same school.?We simulated a hard environment,” Robson began to explain, before Will Robson interjected: “I sat on him.”Lena Robson, the boys? mother, laughed as she recalled the “technique” the brothers developed to help Mitchell calm his nerves after they got the best of him in last year?s regional bee.Mitchell said that as he was asked to spell the word “sayonara,” the Japanese word for “goodbye,” on Friday, he recalled his brother sitting on him and promised himself he would spell it correctly; it was the very word that forced Will out when he competed against Mitchell in the school-wide competition.With his win, Mitchell will receive round trip airfare, hotel accommodations and spending money, donated by sponsors Mary and Joel Abramson, owners of Flagship Travel, for himself and his chaperone to use as he moves on to the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C. May 25-31.Robson said he?s not expecting to win in the national bee, but he was also “really surprised” that he came in first in Friday?s bee.Amber Born, four-time winner of the Item?s bee who placed fourth at the Scripps National Spelling Bee last year, watched Robson claim her former title. Born is no longer able to compete now that she is in high school, but said she was happy to see a fellow Marblehead resident move on, noting the town is on a six-year winning streak.She also had some words of wisdom for Robson: “Study a lot, but don?t freak out and have a good time in D.C.”