This Miami student finished second in last year’s spelling bee. This time she won

When Camila Sanchez-Izquierdo won second place in last year’s Miami Herald Spelling Bee for Miami-Dade and Monroe counties, she never thought she would get that far again.

This year, she returned to the 84th annual contest, held Wednesday at the New World Center in Miami Beach, and she won.

Asked how she feels, Camila, an eighth-grade student at Highpoint Academy, a K-8 school in MiamiDade County, said: “That’s so hard to describe,” with a chuckle. “I have no words.”

The 13-year-old first spelled “panopticon,” or an optical instrument, correctly. The audience gasped, cheered and leaned in, waiting to see if she would close the deal.

Then she spelled “retrospect,” the act of looking back or thinking about past events, correctly, and her face lit up in a smile.

Sanchez-Izquierdo will now represent Miami-Dade and Monroe in the 97th Scripps National Spelling Bee, a televised event that will take place from May 26 to

June 1 in Maryland. She will compete against hundreds of spellers who also won regional bees across the United States and other countries.

“When I was on stage, I just kept thinking, ‘I’m going to the Scripps

National Spelling Bee. Wow’,” Sanchez-Izquierdo said. “I’m going to D.C.!”

The Scripps winner last year received $50,000 in cash, a medal and the Scripps Cup — a trophy decorated with flowers and bees in pastel colors.

The Miami Herald sponsors two spelling bees every year, one for Miami-Dade and Monroe students and another for Broward students. The latter will take place Thursday at the NSU Art Museum in Fort Lauderdale.

Students from first to eighth grade at public schools, charter schools, private schools and home schools can participate. All stu