Community newspapers receive a lot of support from advertisers and subscribers. They do their best to return the favor by supporting the community.

One of the ways the Coeur d’Alene Press shows its love is through its sponsorship participation in the Scripps National Spelling Bee. Every year for the past 14 years, The Press has teamed up with North Idaho College to ensure a student and her or his guardian represents our region at the national competition in Washington, D.C.

Led by Mindy Patterson, NIC does the work. For months, she coordinates bees throughout the northern counties for home schools, private schools and public schools. The college then hosts the North Idaho Regional Spelling Bee — a massive undertaking in itself as an army of volunteers is assembled and deployed. But it simply would not happen without Mindy.

As sponsors of the Bee, The Press pays the freight: Airfare for two to D.C., hotel accommodations for a week that average about $300 a night, plus spending money. Our hope is that the winner shouldn’t be penalized by having to pay for anything during Bee Week. And without exception, every winner has come back and reported the experience substantially exceeded expectations. That alone is worth the newspaper’s investment so far of over $50,000.

But this editorial isn’t about us. And it’s not even about all those fantastic kids who spelled their hearts out on Saturday. It’s about those volunteers we mentioned a couple paragraphs ago.

For the past decade, NIC theater instructor Joe Jacoby has tackled the hardest job of them all. He’s the pronouncer, and if you think that’s a puff job, you’ve never witnessed a spelling bee. If the pronouncer mispronounces a word, it can lead to a child spelling a different word — and being politely ejected from the competition. Joe has told us he feels the heat but loves the bee because of his respect and admiration for all those kids. And he does an amazing job.

The on-stage team also includes judges Audry Bourne and Sara Fladeland, Tracy Struble and Rebecca Goodwin on registration, and Lynn Covey as the stat keeper. NIC alum and University of Oklahoma pre-med student Rohnin Randles performed flawlessly again as the green/red light operator, indicating when spellers got their word right and, alas, when something went amiss. Rohnin is volunteering for the event he participated in three times as a local student. Though he never won, he always was one of the last few kids on the stage, a true spelling heavyweight.

The Press salutes these NIC volunteers, others who do a great job handling the Schuler Performing Arts Center stage, lights and sound, and NIC administrators like Graydon Stanley, who always put the kids at ease before the tension paralyzes them.

To all our colleagues at NIC, we say, T-h-a-n-k y-o-u.