Sudden death decides Kaua‘i spelling bee

PUHI — A sudden death spell-off on Friday settled the final placements of the 2024 Kaua‘i Complex Area Spelling Bee, which was presented by the Department of Education at Chiefess Kamakahelei Middle School.

“You are all winners,” said both Kaua‘i Complex Area Superintendent Daniel Hamada and Bee coordinator Sean Doi, the Kaua‘i Complex Area Educational Specialist. “Just by getting here after getting through the spelling bees at the school level, means you are the best.”

The first and second places of the field of 22 spellers from 11 different schools on the island earned the right to represent Kaua‘i at the state spelling bee in O‘ahu on March 2. At the state bee, the top two spellers earn the opportunity to represent Hawai‘i at the National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C.

“This is the Super Bowl of Spelling,” Doi said. “The Kaua‘i District bee is always held during the Super Bowl weekend, and represents the wide range of opportunity available to spellers. Who would think that a speller from this tiny island could end up in Washington, D.C.?”

Island Spelling Bee spellers ranged from Grade 4 through Grade 8 and represented a wide spectrum of schools: Alaka‘i O Kaua‘i, Chiefess Kamakahelei Middle School, ‘Ele‘ele Elementary School, Hanalei Elementary School, Hawai‘i Technology Academy, Kapa‘a Elementary School, Kapa‘a Middle School, Kekaha Elementary School, Kilauea Elementary School, Koloa Elementary School and St. Theresa School.

Following 12 rounds, not counting the two practice rounds where spellers were allowed to make mistakes without fear of hearing the ding indicating a mistake, there were three spellers remaining — Aliyah Delos Santos, an eighth grader from host CKMS, Sebastian Bejar, a seventh grader from Kapa‘a MS, and Zoe Gray, an eighth grader from St. Theresa School.

The trio had withstood the grinding gruel of spelling through the first round that claimed seven casualties, the second round where five additional spellers left the stage, and the third round where another three left their stage seats.

“I had to use my phone, twice,” Hamada said following the first round. “When I need to spell something correctly, I always use my phone.”

Round 13 started when Aliyah and Sebastian stumbled on their assigned words, and Zoe made it past “adversara.”

Round 14 ended the fight for first place when Zoe slipped past “comedienne.”

But what about the second representative to the state meet? That triggered the spell-off for the second seat where the winner would be determined by the first correct spelling of the assigned word.

Sebastan claimed that seat in the first round of the spell off when Aliyah stumbled and Sebastian fidgeted while the officials conferred. His coach, Nor El Houdda Miss, who videoed Sebastian’s every spell through 14 rounds, erupted in glee and twirled her dress when the seventh grader got through “capsule.”

“He made it!” Sebastian’s parents said in the excitement of the Kapa‘a Middle School student receiving his runner-up trophy from Doi and Hamada. “This is his third time, and he finally made it. He started from when he was in Kilauea Elementary.”

Zoe was nervous about participating at the state bee.

“I won in 2022, but the state bee was done by computer,” said the St. Theresa School student who finished the 2023 bee as first runner up. “This year, we are in-person and we have to go to Honolulu.”