American Science & Surplus Holds Star Wars Spelling Bee

To celebrate May the 4th be with you, or National Star Wars Day, American Science and Surplus held a Star Wars themed spelling bee with Star Wars themed activities and prizes.

“My dad took me to the original premiere in 1977 when I was six years old,” said AS&S Employee John Kadolph. “I remember being taken out of school for the premiere of Return of the Jedi, and The Empire Strikes Back.”

Competing with the rain and many other Star Wars events in Milwaukee, AS&S. located at 6901 W Oklahoma Ave. in Milwaukee, had a small turnout with only 20 people showing up and five people taking part in the spelling bee.

To make up for the small turnout, they held three rounds with prizes including Star Wars socks, puzzles, window decals, stickers, metal model kits, and AS&S gift certificates of varying denominations. These are all items you can purchase at AS&S.

The winner of the first round was Cindy Campbell, who came decked out in Star Wars apparel with her hair styled after Princess Leia.

The winner of the second round was Mikey Chusid, who came dressed as The Mandalorian with a blue light saber, and a satchel to hold his companion Grogu.

“He’s the smartest kid I’ve ever met,” said Chusid’s mother. “He literally reads Star Wars encyclopedias for fun.”

The winner of the third and final round was Alicia Aguilera Rodriguez, and her whole family came to support her. 

“My dad got the original trilogy to watch just before the prequels came out,” said Nick Kurszewski, AS&S employee and official pronouncer for the spelling bee. ”He wasn’t really into Star Wars, but he knew I would be.”

To look the part, Kurszewski brought a Mandalorian costume made of mismatched 3D printed armor pieces that he painted and attached with velcro.

“I wanted a big project to use my 3d printer for,” said Kurszewski. “There wasn’t a backstory when I started but I like to think it was a suit of armor assembled by a Jedi when they were at war with the Mandalorians.”

Kurszewski also brought a homemade light saber that he coded to respond with lights and sounds when he swings it.

“Most of the light sabers I’ve built have been from scrap parts,” said Kurszewski. “It’s a really complex process that takes skills such as machining, soldering, 3d modeling, and coding to make everything come together in the end.”

As the official pronouncer, Kurszewski was tasked with making the list of Star Wars themed words for the spelling bee. The final list included words and names like Alderaan, Chewbacca, and Midi-chlorian.

“I spent about two hours researching words and the list was about 200 long,” said Kurszewski. “To find words, I read through lists of Star Wars characters, planets, etc. Then I read through wiki articles to get more obscure stuff and to make sure I was drawing from diverse sources.”

One of the other activities was a rebel target practice game where you had to aim a laser pointer at the exhaust port of the Death Star to blow it up. When you hit the exhaust port, a light on top of it would turn on, and you would win a novelty Star Wars cup.

There was also a table where you could paint your own Star Wars themed tote bag with stencils of the Star Wars logo, the rebel’s symbol, and the empire’s symbol.

Two employees from AS&S’s Geneva location also brought a remote-controlled R2-D2 droid, which was made completely out of materials and products from their store.

Despite the low turnout, AS&S’s Star Wars themed spelling bee was a fun event for all involved, and they are looking forward to holding more themed events in the future.