“Eleemosynary” and “bewusstseinslage” are just two of many words that middle schoolers Kirsten Cerdenia and Kingston McGhee know how to spell.
In fact, after learning hundreds of words in preparation for their first Scripps National Spelling Bee competition this week in Washington, these are their favorite words.
“Eleemosynary,” which means relating to or dependent on charity, reminds Cerdenia of volunteering and helping people at her middle school in Burbank. She also likes the word’s unique structure.
“Bewusstseinslage,” a German psychological term that translates to a state of consciousness or a feeling devoid of sensory components, highlights McGhee’s longtime fascination with languages and his project to invent a language of his own.
McGhee remembers his first dictionary at 3 years old and the diagram of a pyramid on page 1,607. This past March as a sixth grader, he won the Will County regional spelling bee in his first year of spelling competitions and in his first year of in-person school, as he was previously homeschooled.
He was also the first student from the Crete-Monee District 201-U in more than 20 years to win the regional competition, said Ghantel Perkins, the district’s assistant superintendent of teaching and learning.
More Top Picks What To Do When The School Denies An Iep Evaluation
“If you work hard on anything, you can get here,” McGhee said from his Washington hotel room.
Cerdenia and McGhee both competed in the Scripps National Spelling Bee after winning their regional competitions in March. Cerdenia, a four-time district champion, won the 16th annual South Cook Intermediate Service Center Spelling Bee Championship.
Upon arriving to the national competition, Cerdenia and McGhee said they were nervous and intimidated, as they were surrounded by experienced, national bee champions and competing on a national stage for the first time.
“It was a little scary at first because its a big crowd, and you’re competing against like national spellers,” Cerdenia said. “But it’s like a really fun experience when you get to meet new people.”
Cerdenia passed two rounds, successfully spelling “diapason” and defining “iridescent.” A group of her teachers cheered her on in the audience, and Cerdenia said she could see them from the stage.
Her dad, Jay Cerdenia, said these teachers had supported her in competitions for years.
“Compared to other kids, I don’t really see teachers who go to the competition, but for her, there’s always a bunch of teachers, like five people all the time going to the competition,” he said.
Cerdenia barely missed the cutoff score during the written test in round three, during which she was eliminated.
McGhee was knocked out of the national competition in round one by the word “strelitzia,” a species of perennial plant that’s native to South Africa and otherwise known as the bird of paradise or the crane flower.
But McGhee confidently spelled the word days later over the phone, and said he planned to study for tournaments next year as soon as possible. He also said he is open to helping his peers if they feel inspired to compete, too.
Cerdenia said her experience inspired her to compete next year, even though she said she had planned to quit this year. She said she attended a lot of activities and presentations.
“I think it was just the learning experience and the people and the activities here, even though you don’t win, it’s just the experience is a lot of fun for hopefully all of the people who come to Washington that are spellers,” she said.
Cerdenia said she first started competing in spelling competitions in fourth grade because she thought it would be a new and different activity outside of sports.
She said she started with a packet of vocabulary and spelling to memorize and wanted to keep working harder. She progressed to using an app called WordClub, where she memorized about 300 words a day.
“I just wanted to keep doing this because I saw that I had a chance to win, so I just kept pushing myself harder, just doing more words every single day and trying to learn all of them and their definitions,” she said.
McGhee said he happened upon spelling bee competitions this year when his school held a competition on a half day. He won his school competition and then a tight regional competition where he made it through 14 rounds.
He said when he qualified for nationals, his heart was pounding.
For regionals and nationals he studied one page of words, provided by his school, every day. Dee Holiday, his aunt, said his grandmother helped him study everyday.
Holiday also said McGhee was partially trained from his time reading her coursework while she achieved her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in nursing. She said that ever since he was a “teeny tiny thing” he would sit on her lap and read alongside her, and they would work together.
“We’re like two peas in a pod,” she said. “I appreciate our bond because I give him nothing but freedom and safety in being able to communicate with me, especially in a world where there’s so many kids that just don’t speak up. He knows he can tell me anything.”
McGhee also said he enjoys playing the piano, French horn, trombone and clarinet. He and Holiday planned to explore the National Museum of African American History and Culture, along with the Museum of Illusions Thursday.
Cerdenia said she explored the Washington Monument, the White House and the National Museum of American History.
More Top Picks Best Launch Monitors For Backyard Nets