A junior high school gym is set up to host the county spelling finals. Winners from local elementary and middle schools begin to arrive and check in with the bee's long-time hostess—and Former champion—Rona Lisa Pereti. Audience volunteers are also welcomed to the stage. A glitch: Speller Olive Ostrovsky does not have her entrance Fee; she hopes her father will set there soon to straighten it out. Vice Principal Douglas Panch of Lake Hemingway-Dos Passos Junior High is announced as the day's word pronouncer - he's a last minute substitute for an ailing superintendent. Panch has a dubious track record at the bee but will try to do better this time. The rules are explained. When a speller misses a word a bell will ring - ding - and the speller must immediately leave the stage, escorted, by the bee's coumfort-counsellor, Mitch Mahoney.