LIHU‘E — After 36 rounds and nearly two and a half hours of spelling, Chiefess Kamakahelei Middle School sixth-grader Drezdin Taylor had one more word to spell.
He breezed through the rounds to this point, and this final word was no different. With the spelling of “sedge,” Taylor topped the 2022 Kaua‘i Complex Area Spelling Bee.
He and runner-up, St. Theresa sixth-grader Zoe Gray, faced off for 18 straight rounds, going back and forth, taking to task words including: “magnetic,” “Richter Scale,” “Des Moines,” “crucial,” dicey,” “planetarium” and “diploma.”
The competition started when 18 spellers took the stage, one of the largest groups of finalists ever. Two students from Alaka‘i O Kaua‘i PCS, Chiefess, Hanalei School, Island School, Kapa‘a Middle School, Kekaha School, Kilauea School, Koloa School and St. Theresa each made the finals.
“This is just one step in the journey toward moving your way all the way up to Washington, D.C., to the Scripps National Spelling Bee,” Spelling Bee Oficial Sean Doi said. “It all starts at the school level.”
After the first round, only nine students remained. Students were knocked out on words like “catabolic,” “flipperling,” “kangaroo,” “ceramics” and “innovator.”
Along with Doi, the competition was hosted in part by Spelling Bee Pronouncer Jan TenBruggencate and judged by state Department of Education Academic Coordinator Wendy Schwarze and Michael Depoe.
“Spelling bees are the championship of academics,” island Superintendent Paul Zina said Friday. “This is something that has such a time-honored tradition that shows the level of discipline, care, concern and hard work. The grit, the determination of all the words you can think of that are those soft skills we often refer to when kids grow up, we want them to demonstrate.”
To train, Taylor reviewed spelling lists and made marks on ones that interested him. He’d go back and study fun facts and tidbits that would help him to remember the spellings.
Gray said she prepared by studying from three different spelling lists every day at school and recess with her classmate, and with her mom after school.
Both Taylor and Gray will travel to O‘ahu for the state competition with the hopes of advancing to the national stage.
Kaua‘i District Spelling Bee finalists: Blake Becker (sixth grade, Alaka‘i), Sawyer Kimball (fifth grade, Alaka‘i), Cathrinda Pedro (seventh grade, CKMS), Taylor, Po‘iwena Frank (sixth grade, Hanalei), Savanna Hartley (sixth grade, Hanalei), Sean Lottermoser (seventh grade, Island School), Zachary White-Tzeng (eighth grade, Island School), Kysen Gersaba (eighth grade, Kapa‘a Middle), Keola Maroney (eighth grade, Kapa‘a Middle), Harmony Hasegawa (fourth grade, Kekaha), Vailani Vaivao (fifth grade, Kekaha), Sebastian Bejar (fifth grade, Kilauea), Peshants Watson-Spang (Kilauea), Kate Edwards (fifth grade, Koloa), Nolan Strong (fourth grade, Koloa), Azure Bradley (fifth grade, St. Theresa), and Gray.
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Sabrina Bodon, editor, can be reached at 245-0441 or sbodon@thegardenisland.com.
