Katie Danis doesn't have a secret when it comes to spelling words.
But she's great at it.
The Gaston Day School eighth-grader won The Gaston Gazette Spelling Bee on Wednesday for the third year in a row.
She and runner-up Kayleigh Guffey, a student at Gastonia’s First Wesleyan Christian School, weren’t exactly strangers in the final rounds of the bee.
The girls are friendly competitors. For the third year, Guffey placed runner-up to Danis, who correctly spelled “implicative” to win.
She wins an all-expense-paid trip to Washington, D.C., in May to compete in the National Spelling Bee.
She will spell words aloud onstage as the event airs on national television.
Biding time
The closest thing Danis has to a secret for winning is biding time with the judges.
She works the system. And her system works.
She asks several questions of the person pronouncing the word each time she stands onstage to spell a word.
“Are there any alternate pronunciations?” and “What is the language of origin?”
Danis said sometimes she’s not even listening to the pronouncer’s answers, which can last 10 or 15 seconds.
While that’s going on, she imaginarily writes the word on the palm of her hand with her finger.
It helps to mentally sound the word out, imagine seeing the letters, then speak with confidence.
“I’ve learned to just tune out everything and just focus on one thing. And right now, that one thing is the word,” she said.
Danis won Wednesday’s bee in the 23rd round. The first two rounds eliminated much of her competition – about 30 students.
Along the way, she faced the task of correctly spelling two dozen words including “electrode,” “veterinary,” and “unimpeded.”
Forty-four students from local charter, private, and public schools participated. They entered the countywide event by winning spelling bees at the schools they attend.
You can reach Wade Allen at 704-869-1828; twitter.com/GazetteWade.
Excitement at the bee
Jessica Helton’s silent celebration after correctly spelling “prosecute” sparked applause and laughter among the crowd at Ashbrook High School.
The moment of hilarity happened at the beginning of the second round.
The Belmont Middle School student smiled while carefully spelling the word, then victoriously punched her arm in the air as she walked back to her seat.
Melinda Ratchford, pronouncing the word for Helton, followed the correct spelling by saying “E.I.E.I.O.” in a cheerful nod to the tune of “Old MacDonald Had a Farm.”
A sampling of words students faced at The Gaston Gazette Spelling Bee:
Hacienda
Scampi
Obsequious
Paparazzo
Apostrophe
Flamboyant
Omnivorous
Gossipmonger
Rendezvous
Surveillance
Soliloquy
Cacophony
Euthanasia