{"id":34718,"date":"2013-02-08T08:02:18","date_gmt":"2013-02-08T13:02:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/?p=34718"},"modified":"2013-02-09T09:23:23","modified_gmt":"2013-02-09T14:23:23","slug":"superstitious-motycka-wins-vw-county-spelling-bee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2013\/02\/08\/superstitious-motycka-wins-vw-county-spelling-bee\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Superstitious’ Motycka top speller"},"content":{"rendered":"

CINDY WOOD\/<\/strong>independent feature writer<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Nick Motycka "writes" down a spelling word on the back of his number placard during last night's Van Wert County Spelling Bee. Motycka spelled the word "hominy" correctly to win the contest. (Cindy Wood\/Van Wert independent)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Well, if he doesn\u2019t follow through with his spelling career, he\u2019s got a good shot at stand-up comedy. Van Wert Middle School eighth-grader Nick Motycka had one thing to say to organizers after winning the 2013 Van Wert County Spelling Bee. \u201cThank you for not making me wear the number thirteen!\u201d he said with a laugh.<\/p>\n

In quick order during a bee that lasted just over 30 minutes, Motycka correctly spelled \u201ccrochet\u201d before spelling the winning word of \u201chominy.\u201d Runner-up Joseph Schaufelberger gave Motycka a good run before stumbling on the word \u201cstucco.\u201d<\/p>\n

Neither young man is a stranger to the spelling bee. Schaufelberger, a sixth-grader at St. Mary\u2019s School, also finished in the runner-up spot last year, while Motycka won the bee as a fifth-grader and participated as a sixth- and seventh grader.<\/p>\n

Schaufelberger said he would have liked to improve on last year\u2019s runner-up finish, but he\u2019s thankful for the opportunity — and for his parents.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey help me study a lot by saying the words to me and letting me spell them back to them,\u201d he said, adding \u201cand then if I get a word wrong, we go over it later.\u201d<\/p>\n

After his victory, Motycka said winning this year\u2019s bee was similar in many ways to his victory three years ago, aside from one glaringly obvious difference. \u201cI was much cuter in the fifth grade,\u201d he said with a laugh. \u201cBut it was nice when I heard the last word because I knew I could spell it. I was just worried about tripping over the microphone or my chair, which I did.\u201d<\/p>\n

To help him along, Motycka imagined writing the word out on the back of his number card, a method used by many serious spelling bee competitors.<\/p>\n

\u201cI always do that because I can kind of like see it when I use my fingers,\u201d he noted. \u201cBut obviously the most important thing tonight was not having to wear the number thirteen.\u201d<\/p>\n

The last of the 13 participants, Motycka chose instead to wear the number 14. \u201cHey, I\u2019m a baseball player. I\u2019m superstitious,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The young winner will have to keep hitting the books, though, as he\u2019ll be representing the county at the upcoming regional bee at Indiana University-Purdue University at Fort Wayne, Ind.<\/p>\n

As the winner, Motycka received a $100 cash prize and a plaque from sponsor Van Wert Federal Savings & Loan. He is the son of Trent and Carole Motycka, while Schaufelberger is the son of Matt and Julie Schaufelberger.<\/p>\n

Other spelling bee participants included Madalyn Ward, Emily Fegley, Derek Stout, Alyssa Fegley, Gavin Carter, Brayden Langdon, Lainie Jones, Zania Hasty, Angelina Haller, Najah Martin and Gabriella VanHorne.<\/p>\n

Judges were local school principals Kathy Mollenkopf (Crestview Elementary), Gordon Stemen (Lincolnview Elementary) and Mark Bagley (Van Wert Middle School). Doug Grooms served as the pronouncer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

CINDY WOOD\/independent feature writer Well, if he doesn\u2019t follow through with his spelling career, he\u2019s got a good shot at stand-up comedy. Van Wert Middle School eighth-grader Nick Motycka had one thing to say to organizers after winning the 2013 Van Wert County Spelling Bee. \u201cThank you for not making me wear the number thirteen!\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34718","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-27 03:19:03","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34718","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34718"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34718\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34718"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34718"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34718"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}