Another spelling bee, another win for Candace Silva.
The eighth-grader won her third straight Newton-Conover City Schools spelling bee Wednesday.
Her competitors made her work for the championship.
The words went from easy to difficult, then became a mix of common and unfamiliar.
"Oblige." "Monopolize." "Encore." "Agricultural." "Quarantine." "Centenial."
Oops. One contestant had to sit after leaving out an n. The word is "centennial."
Contestants could ask for the definition or have the word used in a sentence.
Often, they would inflect their responses as an interrogative.
Most of the time, they were right. Interrogative was not one of the words.
But "conundrum" was. And "affiliation." The double-f was the downfall of one youngster.
Another stumbled on "financier."
"Calisthenics," "psychoanalysis" and "cajolery" came and went. The students knew those.
But "omniscient" and "adieu" were cause for elimination.
Finally, there were only three contestants walking across the stage at Newton-Conover City Auditorium.
Alexis Guynn missed "sonata."
Egypt Deloach hit on "cauliflower." Candace sailed through "ambulance."
Egypt, who kept her hands stuffed in the pockets of her Carolina blue hoodie as she calmly spelled one word after another, missed "worrisome."
But it was necessary for Candace to spell the next word correctly. Flub it, and Egypt was still in the bee.
The word was "necessary," and Candace nailed it.
"I read a lot, Candace said after winning a trip to the regional spelling bee.
"Reading helps me learn new words and how to use them. I know what most of the words mean."
Her adversaries were all smiles at the reception after the bee.
"It was fun," Egypt said. She studies the word list all students get before competing. They don't know which will be used in the bee.
"I review the words, then say them to myself before I spell them (on stage). I'll keep doing my best," she promised.
Candace lives with the list, too.
"I memorize the words and I'm able to remember them," she said.
Beaming parents doted on their kids at the reception. Off to one side, Candace's parents snapped some photos of her and sister Carmen, who was in the bee.
"Carmen told Candace she couldn't have the word list," said their mom, Gina Silva.
"She said Candace already knows enough words," Silva said, laughing about the good-natured sibling rivalry.
Now, Candace will prepare for the regional bee. She was eighth in her first appearance and fourth last year.
She'll study that word list even harder. It's necessary.
Email
Facebook
Google
Twitter
Favorites
More
Advertisement