[Editor’s Note: Ms. Komatsu relates how her son Cooper, a Middle School student, fared in the Scripps National Spelling Bee, Washington D.C.]
Cooper made it to the semifinals and tied for 11th out of 285 regional spelling bee winners in the Scripps National Spelling Bee.
The words he spelled on stage were: Amarillo (a tree), nockerl (a dumpling), inessive (a grammatical description), and Dicynodon (a mammal-like prehistoric reptile).
He never spelled a word incorrectly on stage, but didn’t make it to the finals due to a written test that was tallied in with his on-stage performance for a total score.
Just making it to the Scripps National Spelling Bee was a dream come true for him.
He made new friends from all over the country and the world who shared his joy of mastering new words. There were representatives from every state in the country, as well as Japan, China, South Korea, Ghana, American Samoa, Jamaica and Canada.
He played in the pool, went to a picnic, took a tour of the D.C. monuments, attended a dance party and generally had a wonderful time.
Cooper attributes some of his spelling prowess to years of playing Scrabble. (At the North American School Scrabble Championship in Rhode Island a few weeks ago, he and his teammate Sheng Guo earned fourth place.)
Cooper loved his experience. He will try his best to get to the Scripps Nationals again next year. He will be in 8th grade – and it will be his last year of eligibility.
I have attached links to information and a few photos.
https://secure.spellingbee.com/public/spellers/2015/13
http://spellingbee.com/public/results/2015/round_results/speller/13
Ms. Komatsu may be contacted at deborahkomatsu@me.com
