The smile on Alycia Davis’ face said it all after she correctly spelled “adjacent” at the 2009 Rio Arriba County Spelling Bee.
Upon hearing the judges confirm that she had spelled the word correctly, the seventh grader from Lindrith Area Heritage Charter School knew that she had won the Spelling Bee, which was held Jan. 15 at the Performing Arts Center on the Northern New Mexico College’s Española campus. The runnerup, Amada Samora, a fourth grader from Tierra Amarilla Elementary School, had correctly spelled the word “participate” the previous round, but the pronouncer had actually given her “participant” to spell.
“I’m really happy,” Davis said. “I studied like a lot, mostly this week.”
The Spelling Bee has been sponsored by the Rio Grande SUN for four years and this year attracted the most participants during that time.
In all, 34 participants from elementary and middle schools throughout Rio Arriba County competed in this year’s spelling bee. The individual schools each held their own spelling bee and this year’s participants had defeated their classmates for the honor of representing their school. The Jemez Mountain School District sent Davis to represent Lindrith, as well as Victoria Martinez from Gallina Elementary, Maria Trujillo of Coronado Middle School, Nizhoni Yazzie of Lybrook Elementary and Delfinio Valdez of Coyote Elementary.
In a light-hearted moment during the opening round of the contest, Valdez was asked to spell the word “coyote,” which he correctly spelled.
“He got ‘coyote,’” Kelly Sanchez, spelling bee coordinator for Jemez Mountain, said. “That’s where he’s from.”
It was a sprint to the finish at this year’s Spelling Bee, which progressed smoothly and quickly through nine rounds. In every round, at least one contestant was eliminated.
Last year, the Spelling Bee was more of a marathon, with the winner, Diane Williams of McCurdy Elementary School, surviving after 19 rounds of competition. She defeated Jose Estrada of the Española seventh grade school by correctly spelling “karaoke.”
This year, the number of contestants steadily shrank through the first six rounds until just five remained: Davis, Samora, Larissa Cano of Chama Middle School, Stephen Miguel Sanchez of Fairview Elementary and Cheyenne Law of Tierra Amarilla Middle School.
Cano and Sanchez were eliminated in the seventh round, while Law lasted one more round before bowing out.
That left Alycia Davis and Samora alone on the stage in front scores of family, friends and other attendees. In the end Davis was the winner, fulfilling a goal that she set after last year’s Spelling Bee. Davis had participated last year and had made it a goal to do better this year.
“I think she wanted to prove to herself that she could do it,” Rachel Davis, Alycia Davis’ mother, said. “She reads a lot and I actually have to tell her it’s time to put the book down.”
Alycia Davis gave a lot of credit to her teacher Roger Johnson with helping her win this year.
“He makes sure that we study,” she said. “He gives us a spelling list every week.”
Davis’ future ambition will be well-served by her proficiency in spelling and her love of reading. She wants to be a Civil War historian.
“I’m just crazy about the Civil War,” she said. “I’d love to go to Gettysburg.”
Her win qualifies Davis for the state spelling bee sponsored by the Albuquerque Journal. That event is scheduled for March 14 at 9 a.m. at Highlands High School in Albuquerque.
If she wins there, she would earn a trip to Washington, D.C., for the National Spelling Bee in May. That’s not far from Gettysburg and other Civil War battle sites.
“She’s excited and already studying,” Rachel Davis said. “Once she has her head set on something she goes after it.”