April DeGideo, Spelling Bee Finalist
- Yen Ho
- 3 days ago
- 4 min read
"In this discussion board, focus on how families influence learning and cognition for the Spellbound students. Pick one of the students and describe how their family influences their motivation, sense of self, core identity, and other ideas related to learning and motivation."
- University of Pittsburgh EDUC 2000:
Psychology of Learning and Development for Education
In the middle of earning my school library certificate at the University of Pittsburgh, I was very fortunate to watch this documentary as an assignment for my summer class in 2024. Every kid in this documentary was fascinating to watch and listen to. One student caught my attention. She who grew up in a small, working-class family that happened to live in Ambler during the time of filming: April DeGideo.
Who is April DeGideo?
From watching her story in the documentary, I described her background for this assignment:
"Despite how they were living at the time, her family stayed humble and adjusted to the life they were living in. From learning about her in this documentary, April was a competitive girl and took things seriously. Her parents even pointed that out and mentioned that when people ask her to go to the mall, she would decline, preferring to study for the National Spelling Bee. It's really nice to hear that she began to like words from hearing the conversations of her parents. It's touching to see a kid like April who stays in touch with the family. She described herself as being "pessimistic" with her attitude which intrigued me. She was modest and honest at the same time with herself, and it looked like she was pushing too hard on herself too. Her parents were great to listen to, and it's amazing to see how supportive they were to April. And as a result, she was one of the top 4 kids in the National Spelling Bee. Overall, it's this connection with the parents that helped April motivate herself to do well in the spelling bee. It's great to see that in this documentary."
April DeGideo is the daughter of Albert "Al" and Gale DeGideo. She was a student at the St. Anthony-St Joseph Elementary School, formerly located across from the St. Anthony of Padua Roman Catholic Parish. She grew up loving words from listening to her parents' conversations, and in 3rd grade, she became one of the greatest spellers around.
April was only 13 years old when she qualified for the 72nd Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C. She prepped for the spelling bee with books provided by the Scripps Spelling Bee and studied the words for 5-10 hours a day. Her parents and teachers even helped her study. Even though her friends in Ambler said it wasn't worth studying for the Spelling Bee, April was determined and studied nonstop until she reached the finals.
Fun Fact # 1: April won the Times Herald Spelling Bee in 1998.
After finishing third place, she continued her education, and graduated from Mount Saint Joseph Academy in Flourtown.
"April DeGideo’s dog-eared dictionary was a memorable visual in the film, and it served her well—she tied for third place, eliminated on a misspelling of 'terrene' ('of the Earth'). April went to New York University, then worked in publishing and as a paralegal. She recently had her second child and is considering law school, something that might have seemed out of reach for the daughter of a former asbestos factory worker. 'I’d never been in a situation where you feel like you’re the smartest kid in the world,' she says, of her days as a speller, 'and I wanted to feel that all the time after I got a taste of it. I think I’m a good example of how if you work hard enough you can do whatever you want.'
- Smithsonian Magazine (2015)
Easy Street Pub
As seen from the documentary, April's father Al worked at the Easy Street Pub on North Main Street, which is now Bar 31. The bar was part of Reed's Hardware Store during the time of his occupancy.
Al was in the bar business for 45 years. He grew up on the west side of the train tracks where all the workers from the Keasbey & Mattison Company lived. When the company closed down due to the exposure of asbestos, he moved to the other side of the tracks, and lived there ever since. According to Al, the area he grew up in was considered a "Depression Centre."
Watch the FULL documentary (or watch April's story) below!
Bibliography
Campbell, Kate. "Ambler girl surprised herself with third place." Philadelphia Inquirer. June 4, 1999. Page A24.
Crawford, Amy. "Thirteen Years Later, Did Spellbound Show Us the Power or the Myth of the American Dream?" Smithsonian Magazine. Last modified May 28, 2015. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/thirteen-years-later-did-spellbound-show-us-power-or-myth-american-dream-180955434/.
Gold. Sylviane. "Kids Versus Dictionaries (and Each Other)." New York Times. April 27, 2003. Page AR23.
Klein, Michael. "Ambler girl spells all in documentary." Philadelphia Inquirer. June 1, 2003. Page B2.
Scott, J.D. North Pennsylvania Railroad 1886 Philadelphia - Bucks - Montgomery Counties, Ambler, 1886.
Shen, Fern. "The Bee-All and End-All: 'Spellbound' Documents 8 Kids' Determination to Succeed." The Washington Post. June 5, 2003. Page C13.
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