What does it take to go to the national spelling bee?
Word is out: Qualifiers study constantly to become their own spell-checkers
Don’t be fooled by the Hello Kitty mouse pad next to Lauren Guo’s fingers, which galloped across her keyboard Friday. The 13-year-old’s business at the computer was not child’s play.
It’s crunchtime for the Arvada eighth-grader, who is among Colorado’s 15 whiz kids headed to the Scripps National Spelling Bee next week in Maryland.
“I’m pretty competitive, but with spelling, it’s not so much about that,” she said. “For me, it’s more about learning.”
Lauren feels at home parked in a magenta swivel chair poring over online spelling programs of words upon words upon words, some of which just might be called out at the national bee.
Multicolored notebooks stacked next to her are tightly packed with words, scrawled out in tidy handwriting, that have tripped her up.
Lauren’s hands are encased in protective gloves while she types to stave off strain.
“I tend to overwork myself with the typing,” Lauren said. “I tend to pressure myself really hard with everything — academic, spelling, all of that. I just kind of expect a lot of myself most of the time.”
She needs those fingers nimble as she mimes writing out words while orally spelling — a trick many professional spellers use to help stay on track.
Lauren demonstrated, digging her pointer finger into her couch as she spelled aloud her favorite word, “szaibelyite” — a mineral composed of basic magnesium borate, of course.
Lauren became hooked on spelling bees in elementary school and applied the same sort of laser focus to them that she exercises in most areas of her life. Cello and piano make the list of the Arvada teenager’s talents, along with honor rollworthy grades.
Monday begins Lauren’s second time at the Scripps bee, having spelled her way into the top 20 of the 516 participants in 2018.
A smoked pork sausage — “cotechino” — was her downfall.
The loss didn’t crush Lauren’s love for the bee. Taking a short break from her studies Thursday to talk about the competition, Lauren affectionately stroked a bumble bee pendant dangling from her necklace.
“I’m not always that confident about things, but I just feel more confident on stage than I normally do in other places,” said the Wayne Carle Middle School student.
When asked what she does to relax, Lauren admitted, “Usually, I don’t have that sort of time. I focus a lot more on my academics than my social life, but I like it that way.”
Thanks to a 2018 rule change, more wunderkinds than ever before have a shot at the coveted gold trophy and $40,000 prize. Instead of just allowing kids who won their regional spelling bee to make the trek to National Harbor, now spellers who previously have competed at the Scripps National Spelling Bee or who won a school or community bee can join the fun — with a $1,500 participation fee.
Before the switch, the bee featured about 275 kids. It has since more than doubled to 565 students this year.
The 14 additional Colorado spellers headed to the big bee are:
• Zachary Long, Denver
• Maria Ciobanu, Denver
• Henry Stauch, Niwot
• Bryson Browning, Denver
• Bhavya Surapaneni, Castle Pines
• Vikram Raju, Aurora
• Brody Krause, Thornton
• Angelina Holm, Denver
• Cameron Keith, Boulder
• Grant Weibe, Denver
• Cheyenne Trujillo, Westminster
• Rohan Jamtgaard, Fort Collins
• Bella Brown, Boulder
• Lily Hersch, Salida The extra competition hasn’t fazed Colorado’s contestants, who were probably too busy studying to care.
Cameron reviews spelling words four to six hours per day.
The 13-year-old from Boulder is a Scripps bee veteran, with Monday marking his fourth time at the fierce competition. Cameron made it to the elite final rounds in 2018 — the furthest of any Colorado contestant that year. He got out on “chausses” — a synonym for “pantaloons.”
Cameron called “bee week” the highlight of his year.
“It’s fun, but then there’s also a lot of stress,” Cameron said. “It’s a great community of people.”
A perfect score on a second-grade spelling test was the spark that ignited Cameron’s passion for spelling. The feeling of walking on stage and nailing a word has him hooked.
“You realize all your hard work paid off right in that moment, and it’s the best feeling,” Cameron said.
Sylvie Lamontagne, 16, still chases that high.
Stepping up to the microphone to spell is almost an ethereal experience for the Lakewood High School student who twice secured a top-10 spot at the national bee.
“There are all these things running through your head beforehand: Will I get it right? Will I accidentally say the wrong letter? But once you get to the microphone, there’s nothing else that exists in the universe besides you on the stage, the judges and the word,” Sylvie said. “It’s like nothing else I’ve experienced.”
When Sylvie aged out of the competition after 2016, she was plagued by a beeshaped hole in her life.
“The day after national finals, I went to get ice cream with my friends, and then I came back to my hotel room and flopped on the bed and realized I didn’t know what to do with myself,” Sylvie said. “Right then, I opened my notebook and wrote the diagnostic I use to test kids, and it’s still the one I use today.”
Sylvie coaches Lauren, Cameron and a number of students across the country. She took on so many that her website notes she wasn’t able to add any more kids for the 2018-19 session.
Cameron’s mom, Synte Peacock, said the coaching aspect is important for introducing human interaction.
“It can get difficult when you spend all this time by yourself just interacting with a computer, so coaching brings back that element and with someone who you can bounce your stresses and questions off of,” Peacock said. “Sometimes when you say you have a spelling coach, people are like, ‘What?’ But it has become a little industry of its own, definitely.”
Sylvie assesses her students’ strengths and weaknesses and tests them on language patterns and root words, coming up with words they need to study.
She said coaching fulfills the ache to spell competitively that she has had since dominating her fourthgrade spelling bee.
“I fell in love with winning,” Sylvie said. “I miss being on stage, but it’s so rewarding to watch my kids go on stage and show everything they learned. I’m always really proud.”
Unable to stay away from the allure of the spelling stage, Sylvie will again head to Maryland to root for her students and be reunited with her wordy ilk.
“It’s so close-knit, and everyone knows everyone,” Sylvie said. “I’ve made some of my closest friends who I’m in contact (with) practically every day. I don’t know what my life would look like without the spelling bee.”