OfficialCityPrep's 2010 Michigan SpellingBee !

Download NEW 2010 Bee Press Release!

updated: 12/17/09

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Contact JoAnne Wolff @ (313) 874-5827

OfficialCityPrep’s 2010 Michigan Spelling Bee

Registration and spelling bee workshops are now available for OfficialCityPrep’s (OCP) 2010 Michigan Spelling Bee which will be held in May. The OCP Bee, which was founded by Garen S. Wolff, is open to students in grades first through eighth.

Using the National Bee, which was started in 1925, as a model OCP designed a contest which is truly unique. It has 3 classes of competition for students in grades 1-8. Class I permits 1st-3rd graders to compete in teams of 3, while Classes II and III are individual competitions for grades 4-5 and 6-8 respectively. We also provide monthly WordUp! Workshops where students have an opportunity to learn spelling strategies, etymology, and word construction, while gaining confidence in their spelling abilities through mock bees.

Garen sees the OCP Michigan Spelling Bee as a stepping stone to success in the national contest, "I want to prepare the next generation of National Spelling Bee champions. The 2nd place winner in our 2007 contest was one of three students who represented Michigan in the National Spelling Bee this spring in Washington. We know that our Bee and workshops can be extremely helpful for future competitors".

WordUp! Spelling Bee Workshops are held in Kumon Centers and schools in Wayne, Oakland, and Macomb counties on the first, second, and third Saturdays respectively of each month. Workshops in other locations are frequently added. For more information call OfficialCityPrep at (313) 874-5827.

Detroit has a rich spelling bee heritage. In 1922, The Detroit News held its first spelling bee, also referred to as "Spelldown", at the Majestic Theatre on Woodward Avenue. The first champion, Justine Pearsall, gained this title when she spelled Hawaii correctly after her opponent, George Nurse, an African-American and sixth-grade champ, failed to capitalize it.

Miss Wolff received a B.A. in Neuroscience from Wellesley College, and also holds a Masters Degree from Wayne State’s School of Medicine. Currently she is a research award fellow at the National Institute of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Maryland. OfficialCityPrep has been recognized for its commitment to the community by the Hitachi Foundation and Ebony Magazine.

The bee and accompanying workshops are sponsored by, OfficialCityPrep, Inc. and the Midtown Detroit Kumon Math and Reading Center. Kumon is the world’s largest math and reading program with more than four million students enrolled in 45 countries. Visit us online at www.CityPrepOnline.com, or call (313) 874-5827