Scullen student wins District 204 spelling bee
B-A-S-I-L-I-C-A: of the Latin origin; an oblong building ending in a semi-circle used in ancient Rome. Basilica.
And with that, 14-year-old Nikita Veera of Indian Prairie Unit District 204's Scullen Middle School defeated 17 other district middle schoolers in the district's 2008 Scripps Spelling Bee.
Veera said she was "very nervous" heading into the competition -- confident and prepared, but nervous.
"I'm usually a good speller, but I've kicked it up a notch and have been studying my words every night for a long time," she said after wrapping up the intense competition in the 10th round. "I'm not sure where it comes from, but there's a lot of pressure when it's your turn."
Veera, along with second- and third-place finishers Peter Chen of Gregory Middle School and Melissa Ortiz of Still Middle School, will now go on to compete in the ComEd/DuPage County Finals on Feb. 27. From there, contestants have a chance to compete in the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C., on May 29 and 30.
Veera already has a plan to get to D.C.
"There's not much else I can do besides study my words even more," she said, "so that's what I'll do."
Not everyone went into the night's contest with the same strategy. In a secluded room before the competition, some students crammed while others talked and laughed.
Alyssa Domico, a seventh-grader at Crone Middle School, described herself as "a visual girl" without a need to study.
"I see the word in my head when the reader gives it to me, so I'm good," she said, adding that the strategy earned her a win in her fifth grade spelling bee. "I'm just going to wing it and have fun. These kids shouldn't be stressing on this."
That plan got her through the fifth round before she made her exit.
Pat Hitt, the district's curriculum director for language arts and foreign language, said she enjoyed watching the varying approaches students took preparing.
Hitt said it's not uncommon for a District 204 student to get to the regional level, but the district is still waiting for it's first Scripps National Spelling Bee representative.
According to the Scripps Web site, The Louisville Courier-Journal started the event with nine contestants in 1925. In 1941, Scripps assumed sponsorship of the program, but there was no Scripps National Spelling Bee during the World War II years of 1943, 1944 and 1945. Of the 83 champions, 43 have been girls and 40 have been boys.
Hitt said she has reminded the contestants several times of a 13-year-old boy from California named Evan O'Dorney.
Last year, O'Dorney scored $42,000 in cash and prizes on the championship word "serrefin."
Can you spell it?
Test your knowledge in some of the championship words from years past. Which of these words are spelled correctly.
1. gladiolus (1925) correct
2. semafore (1946) incorrec. Answer is "semaphore"
3. esquamulose (1962) correct
4. chihuawa (1967) incorrect. Answer is "chihuahua"
5. maculature (1979) correct
6. miliew (1985) incorrect. Answer is "milieu."
7. staffylococci (1987) incorrect. Answer is "staphylococci."
8. kamikaze (1993) correct
9. succedaneum (2001) correct
10. yoursprache (2006) incorrect. Answer is "ursprache."