Correspondent photo / Sean Barron Genevieve Ramey, a Warren Lincoln PK-8 School eighth-grader, center, is flanked by her parents, Jonathon and Emily Ramey, after having won the 93rd annual 21 WFMJ Regional Spelling Bee on Saturday at Stambaugh Auditorium in Youngstown. As a result, Genevieve will compete in the 101st annual Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C., during Memorial Day weekend.

YOUNGSTOWN — Genevieve Ramey had never heard of the word “comminatory,” but one win and first-place trophy later, it’s likely she won’t forget it anytime soon.

“Nope, I did not know anything about it. I just sounded it out like we were taught in elementary school,” Genevieve, an eighth-grade student at Lincoln PK-8 School in Warren, said.

Her phonetic approach worked well, because it gave Genevieve what she needed to become the grand champion of the 93rd annual 21 WFMJ Regional Spelling Bee on Saturday at Stambaugh Auditorium.

Jeff Tyus, a professor and graduate program director in Youngstown State University’s Department of Communications, served as pronouncer.

The three-judge panel was made up of the Rev. Lewis W. Macklin II, pastor of Holy Trinity Missionary Baptist Church in Youngstown; Dorothy Macklin, a Youngstown Rayen Early College teacher; and Carol Ryan, office administrator with Canfield-based Lord of Life Church.

For Genevieve, “comminatory,” which means threatening, vengeful or punitive, was anything but those, because correctly spelling the word also was the ticket for her to win a $2,000 scholarship, courtesy of Kent State University at Trumbull.

The win also secured her an opportunity to represent her school at the 101st annual Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C., during the Memorial Day weekend.

The runner-up and third-place winners were Isaac Sosnowski, a Jackson-Milton Elementary School fifth-grader, and Violet Sheen, a sixth-grade student at B.L. Miller Elementary School in Sebring. Isaac and Violet will receive $1,000 and $500 scholarships, respectively, from KSU at Trumbull.

Making Genevieve her school’s champion — and the key to compete Saturday — was having correctly spelled “Nehru,” which refers to an Indian leader or statesman. It was something she discovered on her list of words “at the last minute,” the eighth-grader said.

Placing well in competitions is nothing new for Genevieve, who also enjoys swimming and playing the clarinet in the Stambaugh Youth Concert Band. She started learning how to play the instrument in sixth grade. Another accolade was having posted a 16th-place finish earlier this month in a local Challenge 24 competition.

Challenge 24 is a math-oriented game in which addition, subtraction, multiplication and division are used in a variety of combinations to manipulate four numbers on a card to equal 24.

More than 60 spellers in grades five to eight representing schools in Mahoning and Trumbull counties competed Saturday. They were challenged to correctly spell a series of difficult, uncommon and esoteric words such as “netiquette,” “lorikeet,” “pendulous,” “blastema,” “rhizome,” “avifauna” and “graticule.”

For her part, Violet Sheen handled her share of not-so-common words to take home a third-place trophy. They included a few unfamiliar ones that found their way to her in the bee’s third and fourth rounds.

“It makes me happy, because it was the first time I made it past Round 1,” Violet, a sixth-grader at B.L. Miller Elementary School in Sebring, said, adding, “I studied words my mom found online.”

The competitors also included Blake Miller, a fifth-grade student at Southington Elementary School, who made it to the second round Saturday.

“I had a lot of emotions; I was nervous, happy and others that are hard to describe,” Blake said, adding that he also took part in a recent practice spelling bee in Hubbard, with about 30 other students, in which he correctly spelled “dangerous.”

Blake, who listed math as his favorite subject, said his vocabulary has increased largely by hearing others’ conversations. The fifth-grader also credited Lindsay M. Poledica, a fourth- and fifth-grade English and language arts teacher, for assisting him with sounding out and pronouncing various words.

“I just wanted him to do good, and I’m proud of him,” Blake’s mother, Jennifer Miller, said.

Pride also goes a long way in describing how Genevieve’s parents, Jonathon and Emily Ramey, feel not only about their daughter’s performance, but her personality.

“I’m always proud of how she studied, worked and stayed calm,” Jonathon said, adding that the two of them reviewed Genevieve’s word list and studied new ones every few days.

Emily Ramey described her daughter with words that are simple to spell and speak for themselves: kind, loving and someone who enjoys helping others. She also expressed gratitude toward Laura Luoma, a Lincoln PK-8 teacher who helped coach Genevieve.

“I was nervous, but I was happy to do my best, and to know my family was happy either way,” Genevieve said, referring to the unconditional support she received from them without regard to how she finished.