‘Demarche’ Demarks Spelling Champ; a Win for Home Team

Youngsters schooled at home swept the top three spots Thursday in the national spelling bee, with first place going to a 12-year-old Missouri boy in a remarkable scholastic feat: Last week, George Abraham Thampy fell one answer short of winning a national geography contest.

Taught “since birth” by his mother, George correctly spelled “demarche”--a step or maneuver--to emerge from a field of 248 contestants after two days and 15 grueling rounds in the Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee. He tied for fourth in 1998 and finished in a third-place tie last year.

The seventh-grader, from the St. Louis suburb of Maryland Heights, said a thirst for knowledge, rather than a quest for the $10,000 top prize, motivated him to return for a third try.

“It was really the words. And there were 400,000 of them,” he said, referring to the number of entries in the official dictionary used at the 73rd annual bee.

This year, 27 bee contestants were taught at home; that’s more than those attending private and parochial schools and second to public school students, 178.

George paid tribute to his parents, K. George Thampy, a biochemist and physician, and Bina, who works full time teaching her four sons and three daughters.

“My mom and dad taught me everything,” said George, who earned $15,000 with his second-place finish in the National Geography Bee, also held in Washington.

The elder Thampys are proud of George’s academic prowess but treasure something more as a result of their approach to education: “His character is what we are most pleased with,” his father said.

Since the geography bee began in 1989, no one has won both titles.

George’s last two rivals also were taught at home:

* In second place was Sean Conley, 12, of Newark, Calif. “Apotropaic,” which means designed to avert evil, tripped him up; he spelled it “apotrypaic.” He won $5,000.

* Alison Miller, 14, from Niskayuna, N.Y., took third and $3,000. Alison, known for her sharp questioning of judges about definitions, origins and parts of speech, missed “venire.” She spelled the word for drawing qualified people as jurors “veniery.”