With smiles on their faces and new experiences to share, the Eastern Greene Scrabble players returned to school Monday after being swept up in a whirlwind of excitement at the 2008 National School Scrabble Championship in Providence, R.I.

"It went really well in many aspects. Our final standings were 31, 34 and 39 out of 104 teams," explained Dinah Fuller, EG Scrabble sponsor and fifth-grade teacher.

After experiencing some struggles Friday, all three teams came back strong Saturday.

"I'm just really very pleased with them and how they could take what they had done on Friday and pull it up Saturday," she explained.

Especially, Savanna Spice and Melynne Query.

"In the last game, Melynne and Savannah played three bingo's. They had the hardest climb back up but they did it," Fuller said.

On Friday, the Spice/Query duo placed 79th. On Saturday, they shot back, landing in 39th.

"That's tough," she adding, noting competition is based on a cumulative score.

But Fuller believes that losses are experiences that everyone can learn from.

"Our wins are wonderful. But we learn from our losses," she repeatedly tells her players.

"It isn't what happens to you. It's what you do with it," she said. "They pulled it off."

During the competition, the word "fleeting" brought the opportunity to learn again.

"The highest point word and bingo of the entire competition F-L-E-E-T-I-N-G was played against one of our teams," Fuller said.

It was worth 167 points and was played from triple to triple, she said.

But Fuller is always looking for the "positive spin."

So, she told her players that they too had a part in the word "fleeting" and without them it just wouldn't have been.

"It's nice when they can take a loss and learn so much," Fuller added. "In the end they lost some and they won some."

The following are the EG 2008 National School Scrabble Championship results for Eastern Greene:

* Zach Bruner and Brody Martin placed 31st

* Tanner Clark and Chelsey Bailey placed 34th

* Savanna Spice and Melynne Query placed 39th

But competing wasn't the only agenda item for EG Scrabble players who traveled to Providence this past weekend.

"It was just a whirlwind getting there," Fuller explained.

The EG entourage started its journey early Thursday morning -- fighting fog on the road to the Indianapolis International airport and arrived with 15 minutes to spare.

"We were in Providence by 10:30 (a.m.) Thursday. We went to Fenway (home of the Boston Red Sox) ... and took a Duck tour," she said.

The weather was perfect, spring was in bloom and students soon realized why Fuller insisted on bringing walking shoes.

"We walked all over Boston. ... We don't get to do that here. We can take wonderful walks in the woods. But we can't walk from business to business and attractions like that," she said. "They walked with their heads up. They were just in awe."