PUHI — C-o-n-f-i-d-e-n-t was not one of the words given to Sydney Brady, but it should have been Thursday night. Brady, a sixth grader at the Chiefess Kamakahelei Middle School, breezed through words and nine other spellers to earn top
PUHI — C-o-n-f-i-d-e-n-t was not one of the words given to Sydney Brady, but it should have been Thursday night.
Brady, a sixth grader at the Chiefess Kamakahelei Middle School, breezed through words and nine other spellers to earn top honors at the Kaua‘i Complex Area Spelling Bee held at the Chiefess Kamakahelei Middle School.
“Safari” and “alcove” catapulted her into the winner’s circle, but only after runner-up speller Asia Vito of Kapa‘a Middle School could not find the “t” in crochet.
Brent Mizutani, the East Kaua‘i Complex School Renewal Specialist and the Kaua‘i district spelling bee coordinator, said the top two spellers, Brady and Vito, will advance to the state spelling bee on March 19 for an opportunity to represent the state at the National Spelling Bee.
Angelic Ciera Dela Cruz-Labanon of Waimea Canyon Middle School earned the alternate spot to the state bee. She correctly speled “angelic,” after Ashley Bowman of Chiefess Kamakahelei Middle School stumbled on “cumberbun” after Dela Cruz-Labanon correctly paced out “tycoon.”
“Don’t worry,” said Jan TenBruggencate, pronouncer for the night. “I was in the spelling bee in Molokai and I fell on the word ‘publicly.’ I spelled it ‘p-u-b-l-i-c-a-l-l-y,’ and I never misspelled it, again.”
“Legalese,” “convivial,” and “magnificently” triggered the dreaded “ding” as three spellers faltered in the opening round.
“Nepotism” claimed another speller in Round 2 which appeared to be headed for an unblemished round, and “oscillation” dropped another speller in Round 3.
“Grotesque” and “flagellum” claimed two spellers in Round 5 leaving just Brady and Vito to battle for top honors, both spellers getting past Round 6, with Vito on “salami” and Brady on “biopsy” before the “t” failed to appear on “crochet” in Round 7.
Contestants in the 2011 Kaua‘i Complex Area Spelling Bee included Brady, Vito, Dela Cruz-Labanon, Bowman, Cristina McLaughlin of Waimea Canyon School, Harmony Graziano of Kapa‘a Middle School, Violet Asuncion and Taylor Ragsac of Kilauea Elementary School, Jordon Grainger and Kaycee Lu of Island School, and Rashad Johnson of Waimea Canyon.
Alternates, who also received certificates of recognition following the bee, included Ipolani Peila of Chiefess Kamakahelei Middle School, who fretted as the clock ticked closer to 6 p.m., Gabriel Sifuentes of Kapa‘a Middle School, and Wyatt Harrison of Kilauea School.
Mizutani said this year’s state bee will be televised live by the PBS Channel and will also be broadcast live on ESPN Am 1500.
The Kaua‘i bee can be seen on the JK Show on Channel 6.
