For two of them it had to do with vengeance. For the other, it was just about the thrill.

Sunshine Hall and Giana Marelli both remember that day in grammar school. They remember the pain they felt when they lost. When they were told the word they had spelled … was spelled wrong.

Now, Hall and Marelli, both senior English majors, and professor of linguistics Betty Birner are the winners of the DeKalb County Community Spelling Bee that was held on Oct. 18.

“We took it pretty seriously,” Hall said with a big grin on her face. “I remember when I lost in grammar school.”

“I won in grammar school,” Birner said. “When Sunshine and Giana asked me to join the team, I just remember how much fun watching it last year was and thinking it would be a real hoot.”

This is the second year in a row a team from NIU’s chapter of Sigma Tau Delta, an international English honor society, won the event. The team practiced for about a week before the competition and felt very confident about its success.

“There was a little trash talking between us and a couple teams,” Birner said gleefully. “All in good fun though. It was a real good time for us, and it was for a good cause, too.”

The contest consisted of about 20 teams, and each team had to pay a $300 entry fee that would be donated to Altrusa International, a community service organization that espouses volunteerism, service and fights for literacy and against AIDS.

Marelli said they weren’t nervous during the competition.

“We don’t want to sound like the arrogant Sigma Tau Delta team from NIU, but we felt pretty good about the whole thing,” Marelli said.

Birner even challenged the judges on stage.

“We were actually looking at the judges and, telling them to: ‘C’mon give us a good one,’ she said laughing.

“The trophy was nice too,” Marelli added.

Some say to be a talented speller it has to be a part of you. One has to be born with a sense of it, a feeling for it.

“I don’t think we’re born spellers,” Hall said. “We just read a lot. I mean, a lot.”

Marelli agreed.

“I think good spelling partly has to with other languages, too. I’ve studied some Spanish and Latin.”

They all conceded that they were interested in reading and writing at a young age.

“My 11-year-old daughter is unbelievable,” said Birner, who commutes to and from Arlington Heights every day. “I take her to the library and I come out with three books. She comes out with around thirty!”

“My little brother is that same way,” said Giana, a Darien native. “He was at my apartment and I didn’t have anything to give him to play with. So, I gave him a dictionary. He finds the word ‘egocentric’ and says, ‘I know this one.’ I thought ‘OK.’ Then he runs outside to my sister and says, ‘Danielle, you’re egocentric.”

They also have strong opinions about language and spell checks on computers.

“Spell checker is a travesty,” Birner said.

Marelli agreed.

“I think if there was a computer breakdown that we would have a language crisis in this country,” she said.

The future looks bright for the three champions.

Hall and Marelli will graduate next year and pursue their master’s degrees, and Birner will look for new blood to defend the title.

“The team from Kishwaukee Hospital was gunning for us this year,” Birner said. “We need someone with a vendetta from grade school.”

The team would like to give special thanks to Heather Hardy, English department chair, and Doris Macdonald, associate English professor.