Rossford school cheers appearance on ‘Millionaire’ show

Victoria Sears, center, a first grader at Eagle Point Elementary, cheers for Megan Spangler, her teacher, as they watch Spangler answer questions on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire in the school's gym on Friday.

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Victoria Sears, center, a first grader at Eagle Point Elementary, cheers for Megan Spangler, her teacher, as they watch Spangler answer questions on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire in the school's gym on Friday.

Who wants to be a millionaire? Everybody who is not one, including Megan Spangler, a teacher at Rossford’s Eagle Point Elementary School. She made a bid to join the elite club on the game show Who Wants To Be A Millionaire broadcast Friday on Toledo’s WTVG-TV Channel 13.

With her peers and young charges loudly cheering when they saw the first-grade teacher on the screen, Mrs. Spangler watched the program videotaped during a trip to New York City in August. On the program, she wore a baseball cap adorned with pipe cleaners and pompoms made by the students.

The school assembled in the gymnasium and viewed the broadcast on a large screen. The children sat on the floor and the adults — including Mrs. Spangler’s parents, Jean and Valentine Glinka (he is a teacher at Sylvania Southview High School) — sat on the sides.

“It was a lot of fun and it was super, super special,” she told the children.

Although she didn’t come home a millionaire — she won $6,550 — there wasn’t any unhappiness Friday.

Jeff Taylor, principal, told the children that Mrs. Spangler of Napoleon was one of about 3,000 from this area who vied to be on the program, of which Meredith Vieira is host. Mrs. Spangler had seen the show, and her mother coaxed her to try out when representatives of the show visited Perrysburg in July.

Ms. Vieria was a hoot on the program. During an especially humorous segment as Mrs. Spangler agonized about a question that listed sweaty armpits as a possible answer, the host lifted her arm to let Mrs. Spangler sniff her armpits. She chose not to answer the question, for which armpits was the correct answer.

Mrs. Spangler said it was a terrific experience to spend four days in New York. Her husband, Ronnie, a credit analyst at Farmers & Merchants Bank in Archbold, her stepdaughter Madalyn, 13, and Mrs. Spangler’s sister Jackie Glinka, a fifth grader teacher at Sylvania’s Central Elementary School, went too. “It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, from going to New York and being on the show” she said. “Winning $6,000 was great, but the experience was priceless.”

Contact Rose Russell at: rrussell@theblade.com or 419-724-6178.