A team of Texas Wesleyan faculty returned to the top of the spelling mountain, winning the Tarrant County Literacy Coalition Spelling Bee for the fifth time in the last six years.

The Wesleyan Crushers, made up of Bruce McDonald, Ph.D., professor of religion, philosophy and humanities, Marilyn Pugh, Ph.D., associate professor of psychology and Mary Anne Clark, Ph.D., professor of biology, took home the trophy from the event held April 23 at the Fort Worth Community Arts Center.

Unlike a traditional spelling bee, each team agreed on the spelling of each word and submitted the word to the judge for a certain number of points.

All the proceeds from the event went to the coalition, which helps provide adult learners with literacy services, like High School Equivalency exam classes.

The final word in the Bee was acetylcholinesterase, an enzyme that is found in the human body.

“Our team knowing the final word was Dr. Clark’s doing, with her knowledge of scientific terms,” McDonald said. “Last year, Dr. Pugh came through with her knowledge of psychological terms and in previous years, my work with languages (including New Testament Greek) and music (my first degree) came to the rescue.”

Congrats to the Crushers!