Episode 246: She Has “A Way with Words,” Daybreak Student Competes in National Scripps Spelling Bee Championship in Washington, D.C.

Anthony Godfrey:
Hello and welcome to the Supercast. I'm your host, Superintendent Anthony Godfrey. You could say she has a way with words. We're talking about Sophia Montana, a sixth-grade student at Daybreak Elementary School.

On this episode of the Supercast, find out how Sophia managed to win the Utah Regional Spelling Bee in a tough five-hour competition, qualifying her to compete in the National Scripps Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C. How is she preparing to go up against the best in the U.S.? Listen and find out.

We're here at Daybreak Elementary talking with Sophia, the champion of the Northern Utah Regional Scripps Spelling Bee. First of all, congratulations.

Sophia:
Thank you.

Anthony Godfrey:
So you are a sixth grader. How many years have you been participating in the Spelling Bee?

Sophia:
Well, this is actually my first year ever participating.

Anthony Godfrey:
Your rookie year, you took state?

Sophia:
Yeah, I did.

Anthony Godfrey:
That's fantastic. Congratulations. What made you want to participate this year?

Sophia:
Well, we just had it as an assignment, and so I did the assignment, but like I've had an interest in words before. I got a dictionary for my birthday, and I like looking up words.

Anthony Godfrey:
You, okay, wait a minute. I have to pause here. You got a dictionary for your birthday, and you love looking up words. Tell me a little bit about that. When did you first discover that you really loved words? Is this a recent thing?

Sophia:
I guess it's a recent thing. I just wanted to know more words and, you know, just increase my vocabulary and use cool-sounding words instead of just boring basic words.

Anthony Godfrey:
I'm so impressed with that. Tell me what are some of your favorite words?

Sophia:
Um, Staphylococci is one of my favorite ones.

Anthony Godfrey:
Is that a bacteria of some kind?

Sophia:
Yes, it is.

Anthony Godfrey:
Oh, is it? Okay. Can you tell me anything about it?

Sophia:
Um...

Anthony Godfrey:
It's gross, probably.

Sophia:
Yeah.

Anthony Godfrey:
Okay. What are some other favorite words of yours?

Sophia:
Hmm. Um… lagniappe sounds like a cool word.

Anthony Godfrey:
Oh, yeah. Lagniappe. Okay.

Sophia:
Yeah.

Anthony Godfrey:
What else? And is that like a prize or a treasure, or what is it exactly? I’m trying to remember what that means.

Sophia:
Maybe some kind of treasure. I'm not sure. I'm not good at remembering all the definitions.

Anthony Godfrey:
Okay. It is a cool-sounding word, though.

Sophia:
Yeah.

Anthony Godfrey:
The definition doesn't really matter if it sounds cool.

Sophia:
Yeah.

Anthony Godfrey:
What are some of the other words that you like?

Sophia:
Hmm. Um… I like words like... I'm just thinking about other words. Xanthosis is like... means yellow, like... yellow something.

Anthony Godfrey:
Xanthosis?

Sophia:
Yeah.

Anthony Godfrey;
Does that start with an X?

Sophia:
Yeah.

Anthony Godfrey:
Okay. Any other words that are particular favorites?

Sophia:
I like...psit​tacine. Because it comes from the Greek root "cita" meaning parrot. And like... so "psit​tacine" would be like "oh, related to parrots" and I've been interested in that word lately.

Anthony Godfrey:
Okay. Cool. So do you just go through the dictionary from start to finish? Or do you just let it drop open to a particular page and discover words from there?

Sophia:
I just let it drop open to a page.

Anthony Godfrey:
Cool. Do you write in it and kind of circle some favorites?

Sophia:
No, I just remember them.

Anthony Godfrey:
You just remember them. That's even better.

Anthony Godfrey:
I have a few favorite words myself. I was an English teacher and I like tatterdemalion. And I also like dodecahedron, which is a 12-sided shape. You already knew that though. You're nodding your head. You knew what that was.

Sophia:
Yeah.

Anthony Godfrey:
And... yeah, there are some great words... and sclerotic. Sclerotic is like arteriosclerosis. But it means that it's-- an organization can be sclerotic. Meaning that things are kind of not moving very well. Anyway, so let's not talk about words. Let's talk about spelling. You started the spelling bee because it was an assignment.

Sophia:
Yeah.

Anthony Godfrey:
So let's talk with your teacher about that assignment. Introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about what you've been doing in class.

Tawna Pippin:
My name is Tawna Pippin and I teach sixth grade at Daybreak Elementary. I told my class that when I was in elementary school, I'd won the spelling... our school's spelling bee too. And I don't know, spelling's really important. I just always try to implement it into stuff that we're doing, so we do spelling in class. They have their spelling words every week. And Sophia is an amazing speller. She always has been. So I was just really excited to watch her through this whole process.

Anthony Godfrey:
That's fantastic. Now, so you were a speller. You were a competitor. Tell me about your experience when you were a student.

Tawna Pippin:
Oh, I grew up in a little town in Washington.

Anthony Godfrey:
Okay. All right.

Tawna Pippin:
That's as far as I went though. Just the school bee.

Anthony Godfrey:
The school bee or the town bee?

Anthony Godfrey:
Did everyone gather in the town square and watch you...

Tawna Pippin:
Maybe not that small of a town.

Anthony Godfrey:
Okay.

Tawna Pippin:
It was way back in the day.

Anthony Godfrey:
Do you remember some of your words?

Tawna Pippin:
Unfortunately, no. I know we wrote– I know I have it somewhere in a box, but I don't remember what they were.

Anthony Godfrey:
Do you remember any prizes or anything like that?

Tawna Pippin:
Well, I was just telling her that my English teacher when I was in eighth grade...It was my first year at that junior high. And she brought me like a little– She had run to her classroom. She was a foods teacher, and she taught one class of English. But she just came and surprised me with a little heart box with three pieces of chocolate in it. And I kept that little box for years. Mrs. Friswald was her name.

Anthony Godfrey:
Mrs. Friswald. Well, well done, Mrs. Friswald. Wherever you are. That's awesome. That's really cool. My brother was in the National Spelling Bee, actually, many years ago. The listeners will know just how long ago it was, one of the things he won was a Commodore 64 computer. With a cassette tape drive. So there were fewer words back then available to spell, even. But the one that he messed up on was fughetta. Fughetta has an H in it and he did not know it had an H.

Stay with us. When we come back Sophia shares the winning word that made it possible for her to compete at a national level.

Break:
Hello, I'm Sandy Riesgraf, Director of Communications for Jordan School District, and we want to invite you to connect with us. So many exciting things are happening in your child's school, your neighbor's school, in every school here, every day. Don't miss out on following the fun or simply staying informed when there's important information we need to share. Join us at jordandistrict.org, or follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram @jordandistrict. We can't wait to connect.

Anthony Godfrey:
So, how have your parents reacted to this?

Sophia:
Well, my parents thought I was some kind of a magician. They were like, "Wow, you just did that again. This is your first year. How did you win a regional spelling bee?" And now you're going to Washington, D.C.

Anthony Godfrey:
So let's go back to competition and what that was like for you. You obviously remember the winning word. Tell me about the word that you won with.

Sophia:
That was– the winning word, pneumatocyst.

Anthony Godfrey:
Pneumatocyst.

Sophia:
Yeah.

Anthony Godfrey:
My license plate has that word on it. I'm just kidding. What does the word actually mean? What can you tell me about the word?

Sophia:
Some kind of thing to do with seaweed. I remembered it like some kind of algae.

Anthony Godfrey:
Oh, okay.

Sophia:
Yeah.

Anthony Godfrey:
And is this a word that you had studied in advance or is this one that you just, that was just thrown out for you?

Sophia:
I studied it in advance. I was going through like flashcards and I found the word, luckily, because if I wasn't doing that, I wouldn't have known the word. Like it was just a few days before.

Anthony Godfrey:
Now sometimes they have a set list. Did they have a set list that they said they would be drawing from?

Sophia:
Yes.

Anthony Godfrey:
But I understand that the competition went on so long that they had to maybe go– did they have to go off of that list and find some other words because you and your opponents were spelling things so well for so long?

Sophia:
Well, usually they do go off the list, but this year I don't think they said any, they didn't have a spell any words that were off the list.

Anthony Godfrey:
Oh, okay. So they were all on the list and tell me about your preparation. You said that you had flashcards and you were preparing that way.

Sophia:
Well, the flashcards were actually like, I guess you could call it digital. I used the Word Club app, which was like made for regional and school spelling bees.

Anthony Godfrey:
Oh wow.

Sophia:
And you just had, like you have your phone and you have these little flashcards and you can just look at them as long as you want to and then you can get quizzed on them.

Anthony Godfrey:
I never thought about having an app that could help you with that. So you were able to– how many hours do you guess that you studied before the competition?

Sophia:
Well, some days I would study like an hour, two, three, five.

Anthony Godfrey:
Tell me what it sounded like since I wasn't there. Don't you have to say the word and then spell it and then say it again? Is that still the rule?

Sophia:
Yeah, I believe so.

Anthony Godfrey:
Will you do that with your winning word for me right now? Say it, spell it and say it again.

Sophia:
Okay. Pneumatocyst. P-N-E-U-M-A-T-O-C-Y-S-T. Pneumatocyst.

Anthony Godfrey:
Wow. Very nice. Very poised. I could hear every letter distinctly. You practice that too, I'll bet. You don't want to mumble through it and have someone mishear you. So did you ask for a sentence or a definition very frequently? Did you have some strategy that way?

Sophia:
Well, some words I had to ask about because it's really strange when you're on stage, when the people are talking into the microphone, it sounds like almost two people talking at the same time. So like I got a word, curio, and I thought there was a "cheerio" and so I had to ask for the definition so I knew which word it was.

Anthony Godfrey:
And that was quickly cleared up.

Sophia:
Yeah.

Anthony Godfrey:
And you got curio right, obviously. Did you get some words wrong but then someone else got a word wrong and then you were able to continue on or were you able to spell every word?

Sophia:
I was able to spell every word but we did have a written round in the beginning and I spelled one of the words wrong. Almost everyone spelled the word before that one, ascites, wrong.

Anthony Godfrey:
But you got ascites right?

Sophia:
Yeah, so I stayed in the game.

Anthony Godfrey:
You are incredibly impressive. I can't believe all the words that you know how to spell. And I love that you're so passionate about learning more words. So tell me what you're doing to prepare now for the national level.

Sophia:
Well, I just, I look around for any words that I can find. I have this book that has like stuff about etymology and like spelling rules like where to put a double consonant. And I sometimes study that. Then when I won the regional spelling bee, they gave me like this little gift card that was for this, I think, company called Hexco. And I got like 800 words that were really hard that were likely to come up on the national spelling bee to study. And I'm also doing that and it's online.

Anthony Godfrey:
Great. So do you have all 800 words down cold already?

Sophia:
No, I only have a few words but I will keep studying and I will eventually study all the words.

Anthony Godfrey:
When does the competition happen and where?

Sophia:
It happens in Washington, D.C. I think around the Gaylord National Resort. I think that's what it's called. And it is going to happen during the last week of May. Like they do it on two different days like preliminaries, finals, and so that's why we're going to be there for a week. And also we do a lot of fun stuff there. It's not only the spelling bee.

Anthony Godfrey:
So you can tour around and see some of the monuments and sites.

Sophia:
Yeah, that will be really fun.

Anthony Godfrey:
That's really cool. I love Washington, D.C. Have you been before?

Sophia:
No, I haven't.

Anthony Godfrey:
So no matter how well you do in the competition, this is going to be really exciting.

Sophia:
It is. It will be. And my cousin lives in Washington, D.C. so I'll get to see her too. I might stay like a few more days just to see her.

Anthony Godfrey:
Oh, that's awesome. So you've got a cousin there. This is going to be fantastic regardless of the outcome.

Sophia:
I know.

Anthony Godfrey:
But I like your chances of doing very well at the national level. You've got the eye of the tiger. I can tell that you have that competitive spirit. So I've heard that it's not only words in the English language that you'll have to spell. Is that accurate?

Sophia:
Yes, there are many different words. There are German words, Spanish and Greek, and Latin words.

Anthony Godfrey:
That is pretty incredible that they're going to make you spell words from other languages. Very impressive. So I think it's really cool also that you're not just studying a list of words, but you're studying rules about how spelling works. Do you also study kind of roots to words? Does that help?

Sophia:
Yes, it definitely does. Like I was saying, the Greek "cyta" meaning parrot and just a basic one like pre-meaning before, post, after, and just tons of others.

Anthony Godfrey:
So it kind of helps you break words down into different elements that maybe help you spell things a little more easily.

Sophia:
Yes, it does.

Anthony Godfrey:
That's impressive. That's going to serve you well for a long time and that's something that you don't always think about first when you're thinking about the spelling bee is how much it helps your vocabulary and how much you understand words as a result of being a part of that.

Sophia:
Yeah, and they said I was going to have to listen to how people say words and then I'm going to have to correct how they pronounce the words for the rest of my life, because now I know how to pronounce almost every word.

Anthony Godfrey:
Oh yeah, that's really cool. So spell it out for me. What does it feel like to be up on stage?

Sophia:
It feels strange. I mean, the lights are really bright and when I was sitting, I just wanted to close my eyes and when I got on stage the first time, I thought I was going to faint. Like I actually felt like I was just going to collapse, but well, I didn't. I just have to keep calm. My eyes just facing forward and just spell whatever word they give me.

Anthony Godfrey:
Just kind of stay focused. But the fact that you've been on stage in regions, that will really help you when you're at nationals.

Sophia:
Yes.

Anthony Godfrey:
This is a huge trophy that we have here in the office. Tell me where this is going to go. It's actually a piece of furniture. It's so large.

Sophia:
Well, it's going to go in our, I guess it's called a display case and everyone's going to see this and it's going to be there forever.

Anthony Godfrey:
Okay, fantastic. Well, I look forward to seeing it many years into the future. Well, I'm really proud of what you're doing. I love that you're passionate about words the way that you are. And I know you're going to have a great time regardless of the outcome and that you're going to work really hard to be at your best. So thanks for representing Daybreak, and Jordan District, and the state of Utah. So wow, that's awesome.

Sophia:
Thank you.

Anthony Godfrey:
Thanks for joining us on another episode of the Supercast. Remember, education is the most important thing you will do today. We'll see you out there.