When it comes down to “refulgent” and “perlustrate,” the only thing to rely on is a little luck – and that photographic memory.
As the seconds ticked by, Kayla Hudson, 13, looked at the ceiling, flipped through the dictionary in her brain and began silently asking herself questions.
Have I seen this word before? What are the roots? Do I recognize the definition?
And then, she began to spell.
“Refulgent, R-E-F-U-L-G-E-N-T.”
The word, which means shining radiantly or resplendent, made the dark-haired, pony-tailed eighth-grader the winner Saturday at the Colorado State Spelling Bee.
“I didn’t remember if it had two F’s or not,” she said. “I got lucky.”
Before that, she had to correctly spell “perlustrate,” which means to inspect with care.
Hudson’s parents didn’t push her to make note cards and spend an hour a night studying. They didn’t even pressure her to enter the bee again, after losing out last year.
“We probably discouraged her instead of encouraged her,” said her father, Erwin Hudson, with tears of pride in his eyes. “We just didn’t want her to be disappointed. … But she came here to win.”
Hudson beat out 13-year-old Zach Cantor, who took second place again – same as last year.
“Eventually, I’d like to win,” said Cantor, who lives in Greenwood Village. “I get a lot of second and third places. I have a lot of people rooting for me.”
The 34 kids who made it to the oral rounds Saturday – weeded out from 320 who showed up in the morning to take the written exam – have similar stories.
Words have danced through their heads since toddlerhood. Early on, their parents noticed an uncanny knack to add those tricky, silent letters into words when they were writing. They have photographic memories. They are voracious readers.
Chrysanthemum. Maleficence. Trumeau. Pyroclastic.
“When he was 3, it was his first year of reading, he spelled the word ‘doubt’ and he put in that silent B, and we hadn’t gone over the silent letters,” said Lisa Brody, mother of 10-year-old Ryan Brody of Castle Rock. “I thought, ‘This isn’t normal.”‘
Ryan was eliminated after misspelling “numismatics,” which means the study or collection of money.
Pestilential. Ingenue. Tomatillo. Endostracum.
“When he was a year and a half, we were going to the store to buy bananas, and from his back seat he yelled ‘N-A-N-A!’ ” said Tony Poulter, speaking about his son, 11-year-old Nat from Westminster.
The word “scrupulously” took Nat out of the bee Saturday. “I feel pretty good; I wasn’t expecting to win,” he said.
Most everyone competing was in middle school, though a few were younger – fourth- and fifth-graders.
On stage, the kids squirmed and whispered to one another. Some ran their hands through their hair, and refused to look at the audience. When it wasn’t their turn, they practiced spelling the word anyway in their head, just to see if they could do it.
Amine. Sacristan. Ochlocracy. Miasma.
“This age is so fun,” said Charley Samson, who served as the word pronouncer Saturday. “They’re so self-conscious.”
Kayla, who was celebrating with her parents at Texas Roadhouse afterward, said now she’ll cram for the National Spelling Bee, held in Washington, D.C., at the end of May.
“I am very, very excited,” said Kayla, who aspires to be a doctor – which, she acknowledges, doesn’t have a lot to do with spelling.
“Except all those weird medical terms.”
Staff writer Allison Sherry can be reached at 303-820-1377 or asherry@denverpost.com.
