What’s ‘spirketing’? It’s the word that foiled local speller at national bee
NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. - A middle school student from Evans has been eliminated in the seventh round of the Scripps National Spelling Bee.
Sara Daoud, a seventh-grader at Greenbrier Middle School, was hanging in there until an unusual word tripped her up Wednesday. That word was “spirketing,” which she spelled as “spurketing.”
Spirketing is a type of wooden planking on a ship. And for the record, there are multiple spelling variations for it – including an obsolete spelling with a U, like Sara spelled it.
However, the official spelling is what’s in the Merriam-Webster Unabridged dictionary.
Even though she got stumped, making it to the seventh round at the national level is amazing achievement for the 12-year-old.
She ed the first two stages on Tuesday in the bee just outside the nation’s capital, including successfully spelling “jai alai,” a sport from the Basque region of Spain.
Sara was glad to be at the national bee, she said Tuesday.
“It feels really exciting because I know this is a once-in-a-lifetime experience or maybe twice, I don’t know. And it’s just a really momentous part of my life ... just to know that I’ve like gotten this far,” she said.
What is it she likes about spelling?
“Well, ever since I was a kid, I’ve been like really drawn to reading,” she said, calling it a favorite pastime.
“When I heard about this bee, I was like: Why not? I’ll try it out. And I found out that I was like pretty good at it, so I decided to keep going,” she said.
She tried out last year and didn’t make it. But she studied hard this year and got in.
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One strategy for her is to keep the nerves in check.
“I try to stay calm, and if I’m nervous, I just like breathe in and out,” she said Tuesday.
“I was kind of nervous this morning, but now I know that it’s like it’s just a spelling bee. It’ll be fine and I’ll just keep on studying. And hopefully I can make it to the finals, maybe like even win. So yeah, today’s been pretty good.”
What’s her message for the folks back home?
“I would just really like to let them know that all the people in my community that helped me get here, I would really like to thank them because they did a whole lot for me, and I’m so proud of that,” she said.
Unfortunately, the other local speller, Kolin Schuler, a Warrenville 11-year-old in sixth grade at Horse Creek Academy, was eliminated Tuesday. He was asked to spell “parti pris,” but spelled it “parti pres.” It’s a French term that means prejudice.
Ahead of the elimination, Kolin took a moment Tuesday to talk about the experience, which he described as really fun.
“I think it’s just a great experience to be here,” he said.
“I enjoy learning new things about spelling and increasing my vocabulary,” he said.
He doesn’t have an especially favorite word yet.
“I’d say I just like words,” he said.
It feels great just to have gotten this far, he said.
His advice to other kids:
“Just put in hard work and you can reach your goal.”
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This will be the 97th bee; it was canceled from 1943 to 1945 because of World War II and again in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. This year’s champion will be the 110th, because the bee ended in a two-way tie several times and an eight-way tie in 2019.
You can watch the competition online at spellingbee.com.
On Thursday, the finals will be broadcast on ION from 8-10 p.m.
Spellers qualify by advancing through regional bees hosted by sponsors around the country. In order to compete, spellers must not have advanced beyond the eighth grade or be older than 15.
Spellers must get through two preliminary rounds, quizzing them on words from a list provided in advance: one spelling round and one multiple-choice vocabulary round.
Those who make it through the preliminaries sit for a written spelling and vocabulary test, with the top 100 or so finishers advancing to the quarterfinals. The words for the test, and for all subsequent rounds, are taken from the Merriam-Webster Unabridged dictionary.
Throughout the quarterfinals and semifinals, spellers are eliminated at the microphone through oral spelling or vocabulary questions.
About a dozen spellers advance to the finals. When only two spellers remain, Scripps has the option to use a lightning-round tiebreaker known as a “spell-off” to determine the champion. However, Scripps has taken away the requirement that the spell-off begin at a specific time, giving bee judges more discretion to let the competition play out.
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The winner receives a custom trophy and more than $50,000 in cash and prizes. Here are the prize payouts:
- First place: $52,500 in cash, reference works from Encyclopedia Britannica and Merriam-Webster, and a $1,000 contribution to a school of the champion’s choice.
- Second place: $25,000.
- Third place: $15,000.
- Fourth place: $10,000.
- Fifth place: $5,000.
- Sixth place: $2,500.
- All other finalists: $2,000.
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