Flawless victory at bee

We adults think we know what it means to be nervous — job interviews, performance evaluations, public speaking.

Fifty Lowcountry students would tell you that's nothing compared to what they felt Thursday night.

At least one student found a way to overcome his jitters, although he conceded it became more difficult when he was one of two students left in the 2008 SpellBound! regional spelling bee.

Jackson Crist, an eighth-grade student who is home-schooled through Lighthouse Academy, kept his cool and cruised to victory without misspelling a word. Upon spelling the final word — "aborigine" — correctly, he threw his hands in the air, jumped several times and exclaimed, "Yes!"

"I don't know how to describe this," he said shortly afterward while holding his trophy. "It's incredible!"

Crist will receive an all-expenses-paid trip to Washington to compete in the Scripps National Spelling Bee. More than 10 million students from across the country compete in school and regional spelling bees for one of 272 coveted spots in the national bee.

Students in fifth through eighth grades participated in the regional bee sponsored by The Post and Courier. They came from across the Lowcountry, including Berkeley, Charleston, Colleton, Dorchester 2, Dorchester 4, Lowcountry Home and Private Schools, the South Carolina Independent School Association and Lowcountry Catholic Schools.

The regional spelling bee might be the most intense competition these children have ever experienced. Their every movement is watched as they walk, for what probably seems like miles, from their chairs to the microphone at the front of the stage.

After their word is read, some stare down, some stare at the microphone and some stare into the bright stage lights shining on them. They bite their lips, tug on their shirts and shift from foot to foot.

Some spell the words loudly, others are barely audible. Some give the last letter of the word in a higher tone, as though asking the judges whether they spelled the word correctly.

Crist appeared confident but not overly so while spelling. This was his second trip to the regional bee. His first was three years ago at 10 years old, and he finished in 16th place. This year was the last time he could participate in the spelling bee, and that made the win that much more special, he said.

His mother, Joye, said she thought that prior experience helped him this year. Her son has grown up playing with words. When they're in the car, he'll see signs and begin using the words to make different ones, she said.

"You don't want to play against him in Scrabble," she said.

She and her husband, Jim, likely were more nervous than their son. Joye left the auditorium briefly to go to the bathroom, and when she returned, she said she could not see him.

"I panicked," she said. "I thought he had been eliminated."

Instead, he had moved seats.

Her son has been studying the spelling of words by writing them down, and his Mom quizzes him, too.

But Crist might have had an edge on Thursday night that had nothing to do with his will to work: Both of his parents were former spelling bee champions.