“This makes me want to drop English,” junior English major Sebastian Cardone said, his face drenched in sweat, his eyes wide with terror.

He was talking about this year’s Spelling Bee, and specifically referring to the spelling of “Flibbertigibbet,” a word he found quite horrifying.

(For the curious, a Flibbertigibbet is someone who is overly talkative.)

Friday, March 14, the English Club put together FAU’s very first Spelling Bee, pitting a team of English faculty members against a team of students in the English program. The prize: a $20 Visa Gift Certificate.

The two teams ended up being evenly matched, with the final round being between one remaining teacher and one remaining student.

Becka McKay, FAU’s Director of Creative Writing won the competition, beating senior Studio Art major and English minor Terry Light in the final round.

Her inning word?

Thalassophobia (fear of the sea).

Still, she didn’t find the contest easy.

“They clearly studied,” McKay said. “I’m impressed.”

Though Light didn’t win, he did perform quite admirably, being the last student left in the game. Still, he wasn’t sure he wanted to do it again.

“It was a lot of pressure,” Light said.

The event as a whole was very fun. The audience of about forty people were mostly students, but a couple instructors were there as well. Everyone seemed pretty engaged, clapping for people even when they were eliminated.

Perhaps the most fun was to be found in the banter and wordplay that everyone from the judges and contestants to the audience members engaged in.

When one of the teachers was asked to spell the word, “Eudemonic,” contestant and English Professor Eric Berlatsky yelled out, “No, you demonic!”

And of course, when one student was asked to spell the word “Paraphernalia,” an audience member yelled, “Every college student knows how to spell that!”

“The energy between the faculty and students was great,” English Club sponsor Shantelle Maxwell said. “You could feel the camaraderie.”

The event was a great success, so much so that the English Club has already decided to begin putting together a Jeopardy themed event for this coming fall.