After competing in the regional spelling bee for the first time last year, Ian Leong came back to win.
The 12-year-old sixth grader from Matthews Middle School in Island Lake said he was “very happy” after he defeated 11 other spellers from schools across Lake County Friday at the Regional Spelling Bee in Vernon Hills.
The key to success was thorough preparation, Ian said. After his stint in the regional bee last year, he said he practiced with his family for the entire year.
After nearly two and a half hours and 30 rounds of spelling, Leong won the Lake County Regional Spelling Bee, securing a spot at the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington D.C. later this year.
Assistant Regional Superintendent of Schools Courtney Curry said the bee, “showcases the talents of the brightest students from Lake County.”
“Let us take a moment to recognize the determination of our spellers and their supportive families who worked diligently these past few months to study and prepare for different levels of competition,” she said at the start of the competition. “You set goals and accomplish great things. Because of your hard work, a great American tradition continues.”
Regional competitors first had to win their school spelling bee to advance to sectionals. At the three sectional spelling bees, the top four contestants advanced to the regional competition.
More than 60 elementary and middle schools in the county participated in the 2024 spelling bee.
The competition was resilient, with the final four battling through a dozen rounds before a contestant made an error, rattling off the spelling for words and phrases such as “Mesopotamia,” “andouille,” and “je ne sais quoi.”
Ian and runner-up Debragha Das from Hawthorne Middle School South, also went a number of rounds without making an error, until Ian actually made the first misstep.
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Traditional spelling bee rules mandate the winner must spell one last word correctly. If they don’t, the other contestant is reinstated into the competition.
After Ian faltered on “precedent,” Debragha had the opportunity to win the competition, but he incorrectly spelled “diocese,” bringing Ian back into the bee.
Eventually, Ian won the spelling competition with “narcohypnia,” a word of Latin origin which, according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary means, “a numbness felt on awaking from sleep.”
Ian said some of the words at the start of the competition were “easy,” but the words at the end were “very challenging.”
The word entries given to the final two contestants were from a list the contestants were not able to study ahead of time, increasing the difficulty.
Before spelling their word, most contestants first asked for the definition and word origin, strategies hailed to help competitors weed out homophones or tricky spellings.
“When your moment arises, just do like the pros do in D.C.,” Curry advised before the competition. “Slow down, ask questions, think positively and you will be ready to meet the challenge.”
Excited for his chance at the national title in D.C., Ian said his next steps are preparing for the May competition.