Fort Worth area spelling bee champion proves she is the LeBron James of spellers
More than three hours into the competition, the Spelling Bee pronouncer appeared to string random letters together in hopes of stumping the final two competitors, because we all know “limicolous” is not a word.
Neither is bibimbap. Same for xiphias.
On Tuesday morning, then early afternoon, the Scripps Regional Spelling Bee took place in a ballroom on TCU’s campus, and by 12:20 p.m. the field of 23 competitors was down to Vivinsha Veduru and Noah Pham.
Pham went full beast mode — and yes, that’s actually in Webster’s — and even Siri would not have defeated Veduru in this spelling bee.
Whatever word was asked, they knocked it out of the park like a 585-foot shot to dead center field. And this was without any sort of performance enhancer, like Alexa.
Despite the omnipresence of Google and Artificial Intelligence, an-old school spelling bee still has a place in schools, and in America.
For sheer pain, anguish and drama, nothing tops the sights and sounds of a 12-year-old on a quiet stage in front of their peers and parents as they try to spell, “scurrilous,” “plangency,” and a bunch of other words they will never use in normal conversation.
The competition began at 9:10 a.m. and ended in Round 36 at 12:38 p.m. with Veduru methodically assembling every word like a puzzle.
In between there was the drama of watching the first word knock out the first competitor, the prolonged dramatic pause of a judge having to go to instant replay. (Can’t make that up.)
The pronouncer had to ask some of the kids to remove their masks before they spelled their word, which, sadly did not result in a political debate.
Then there was that unmistakable lonely ding of the bell, which tolls for those who add one too many vowels to “bailiff.”
There was the heartbreak of watching a little girl who started her word with the letter “I” then said, “No” and proceeded to spell “nitrate” correctly.
Ding.
Rules are rules, and she was out. As she took a seat by herself in the lonely row of chairs for those who had just been eliminated. She couldn’t help but cry.
All of the competitors on Tuesday can take solace in the fact that not only did they win enough spelling bees to reach the regional, they competed against a different breed of speller.
Veduru is basically a smart phone housed in the body of a tween.
Watching Veduru spell out a word was akin to watching Monet paint water lilies, Michael Jordan dunk from the foul line over three defenders or Mozart play the piano.
After Pham missed on “adscititious,” Veduru easily handled “Equatoguinean” and “atlatl” on consecutive words.
“Adscititious” is such an obscure word that when you type it into Google it brings up, “ambitious.”
Ding. Take a seat Google.
She’s 11, and the sixth-grader at Bear Creek Intermediate School in Keller is a thaumaturge with words. (I used the thesaurus for that, but don’t ask me to pronounce it.)
She won this competition last year, and finished fourth nationally.
On average she would take about 45 seconds to spell each word, in the process she asked the pronouncer every question allowed:
“Are there any alternative pronunciations?”
“Can I have the definition?”
“Can I have the point of origin?”
“Can I have the part of speech?”
“Can you use the word in a sentence?”
This is not a stall tactic. She used all of the necessary information to put together the correct spelling. Then she would use her right finger to spell the word out on her left palm.
Her parents said she doesn’t memorize the words, but studies language.
As the winner on Tuesday, Veduru nets $300, and Pham $200, which these days is just enough to fill up a car with gas.
Veduru, her little sister and mom and dad will travel to Washington, D.C., for the Scripps National Spelling Bee. The finals are June 2, and the event will be hosted by LeVar Burton.
There was not a single speller at this event who lost. They just got beat.
The next time you need the correct spelling of a word, don’t bother asking Siri or Alexa.
Ask Vivinsha Veduru.
This story was originally published March 9, 2022 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Fort Worth area spelling bee champion proves she is the LeBron James of spellers."
