“When I was in Grade 1, I was already able to spell rhododendron, but I would have never imagined that in Grade 4 I would have qualified for the Regional Spelling Bee!”
So said Elizabeth Rummel School Grade 4 student Valentina Pagetto.
After first demonstrating her spelling skills as the top speller at Elizabeth Rummel School, Pagetto then completed another test that would qualify her as one of 55 finalists in the Calgary Herald Regional Spelling Bee.
As Nirmala Naidoo from CBC addressed the 55 finalists at the University of Calgary on March 5, she began by telling them that they were already winners. In all, 15,000 Grade 4 to 8 students from the Calgary region tried out for 55 spots.
Only two of those 55 students were in Grade 4, one of them being Pagetto.
The competition rounds began and the words were challenging: sayonara, tumultuary, chimichanga, isobar, albatross, juggernaut, hippopotamus and acronym among them.
Many audience members, including Valentina’s present and former teachers, Sue Bjorge and Liz O’Connell, tried out their own spelling skills with a pad and pencil. They found more than a few words difficult to spell.
As students were required to spell the word verbally, some visualized the word by spelling it in the air or on their arm. When Valentina was eliminated on the fifth round with the word acronym, there were only 14 students left on stage.
Her comments after her elimination – “I was disappointed, but I wasn’t that sad. After all, I still have many more chances to win that trophy. I will study hard and next year I will be there again, ready to rock.”
Watch out, Grade 5, here she comes.
