Utah Valley Spelling Bee Champion/Official Five-Peat/Dedication

Congratulations to Sophie Choate for winning the Utah Valley Spelling Bee yesterday! Her winning word was mordacious (biting or given to biting; ). She's always wanted to go the Scripps National Spelling Bee since an early age, and here she comes!

You may realize that the Latin root mordac means "biting". Good luck, Sophie, and represent Utah well!

http://www.heraldextra.com/news/local/spelling-bee-winner-takes-prize-with-mordacious/article_e680f670-5bda-5bc2-9467-aa9e321a6037.html

I Googled "spelling bee", and I found out that there will be a five-peat heading to nationals: Nicholas Rushlow. It seems as if he will continue studying even after the National Spelling Bee. It is a true passion to him and many other spellers at the Bee, but I hardly know many spellers who continue studying after their spelling bee years.

http://www.lancastereaglegazette.com/article/20120318/NEWS01/203180301/Rushlow-heads-D-C-again-spelling-bee?odyssey=tab%7Ctopnews%7Ctext%7CFrontpage

Quote from the Article: "It's pretty cool going five years in a row because not many people have done that," Rushlow said. "One of my friends, Matthew Evans, did that a couple years back. I quiz with him occasionally, so I'm trying to follow what he did." 

It's true that there haven't been five-peats since 2008: Tia Thomas and Matthew Evans. 

Tia told me that even if the spelling bee is over, she used all that time and dedication to other things. She has done very well in the Science and Engineering Fair, even if she never advanced to the international level, and she has been the National Bible Bee three times.

I'll admit that I still study spelling when I find time. I still love to highlight and look up words when I read, I have enjoyed studying languages and actually researching many cultures. In Biology, I enjoy memorizing and studying roots that are found in many science terms. In French, I always read my French dictionary and write down several interesting words and/or words that I had seen in the spelling bee (my French teacher seems to use the term devoirs - homework. Devoir was the actual word used). In English, we have Word of the Day, and we have a wall of words. In the front is the word, and in the back, it has the information. We play games and study roots to help us remember them.

Good luck to all the spellers!