ITEM PHOTO BY OWEN O’ROURKE
Mary and Joel Abramson have been involved with the spelling bee for years.
By BRIDGET TURCOTTE
SWAMPSCOTT — Joel and Mary Abramson, corporate sponsors of the Daily Item’s Regional Spelling Bee, take pride in encouraging literacy.
“We had never been to a spelling bee. After our first event, we realized you kind of get hooked,” said Mary. “It’s an amazing event — It’s a real family event. It’s heartwarming to see how invested, not only the children are, but their parents are.”
The 32nd annual competition will be March 10 at Lynn City Hall Auditorium. Candidates include 54 champions from local schools in grades three through eight.
The winner of The Item’s regional bee will move on to the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C. in May, a trip that’s paid for by the Abramsons and their Marblehead-based travel agency, Flagship Travel.
It includes roundtrip airfare for two, lodging, food and $400 in spending money. Joel estimates that it’s a $4,000 value.
The sponsors for the fourth year in a row also purchase $10 gift cards to Barnes & Noble for each of the participants. The first-place champion will take home a $100 gift card, second and third place will snag a $50 and $25 voucher for the book store. Each of the finalists will also receive a dictionary.
The couple picks up the costs for mailings to schools and food and beverages at the bee.
“We’ve always tried to support as many educational events as we can,” said Joel. “We’re both readers and we’re just concerned that kids are relying too much on spell check and Google to get their information. We thought we could utilize our marketing skills and passion for reading.”
Joel and Mary consider themselves ingrained in the community. Joel serves on the Board of Trustees for KIPP Academy in Lynn. Mary grew up in Beverly and Joel in Lynn. They have lived in Swampscott, where they raised their son Benjamin, for 40 years. Flagship Travel has been in Marblehead since its inception in 1983. They’ve raised money to support their neighbors going through hardships and enjoy watching local children grow.
They followed former Marblehead competitors Amber Born and Mitchell Robson. Born was the first Item contestant to make it to the final round. She took four trips to the national competition and placed fourth in 2013.
Born went on to coach last year’s winner, Mitchell Robson, who secured seventh place in his final of three consecutive trips to the Scripps bee. To secure his spot at the national competition, Robson went head to head with third-grader Ashrita Gandhari from the St. Michael’s School in North Andover for more than four hours and 400 words. A tie breaker held a week later lasted an additional 115 rounds.
Robson has aged out of the competition but his younger brother Will Robson will compete this year, said Joel.
Joel said the bee has grown from 20 participating schools to more than 50 in the past four years. The couple prides themselves on creating a buzz about the bee and helping to keep it fun.
“We’re not going to change the world or build a new high school, but we can do this,” said Mary.
https://newitemlive.wpengine.com/news/lynn-firefighters-settle-on-contract/
Bridget Turcotte can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @BridgetTurcotte.
