Editor's note: The following is an excerpt from Kate Miller's recap of her Bee Week experience. This series of posts will give readers a feel for the emotions felt by the spellers during Bee Week. It is shared with permission from the MIller family. Kate finished T-8th in her third and final Scripps National Spelling Bee appearance.
Thursday, May 29, 2014
No one is more surprised by my Finalist status than my ten-year-old brother, Jack. Jack obsesses over my old Bee Keepers the way other kids fixate on baseball cards. In honor of the NSB 2013 Champion Arvind Mahankali, he has created a new verb-"Arvinding." It means "studying like lightning." Jack has spent all year rooting for Sriram Hathwar, predicting what he is sure will be Sriram's ultimate 2014 Championship. My brother actually plans to name his firstborn and second-born sons both Sriram. When he learns I am a finalist, Jack shiftily consents to root for me. I am later told, however, that he continued to cheer for Sriram the loudest.
The Finalists and their families are treated to dinner together. I am seated at a table with 2000 Champion George Thampy and enthusiastic Finalist #38, Jacob Williamson. Jacob is a character, and I'm not sure that up to now the world has appreciated his gifts. But here at The Bee, he is popular and celebrated, both onstage and off. The 2000 Champion makes Alia laugh, lets Gokul tease him about his 1990s use of a Walkman, and inspires all of us with his reassuring words, as we move on toward the stage.
Much preparation goes into our final appearance at The Bee, but one thing that is not pre-polished is each speller's attitude. Everyone is just as nice offstage as they seem on television. In the end, it will be Sriram and Ansun whose excellence and humility "define the moment[1]." I am so proud of these, our 2014 Co-Champions. They stand at the pinnacle of an already peak group. The camaraderie that exists between the 281 champions, as well as the spellers who stay close from the past, creates a beautiful sense of belonging. It's a very brief, very powerful connection of souls.
I keep asking myself what it is about this competition that gives us this phenomenal synergy. In part, it's automatic respect; we know exactly how hard we've all worked to get here. Yet it's so much more than this. The Bee Week Staff convinces us that we are *all* champions. The Bee teaches us to bee-lieve in ourselves, and also in each other. I will carry it with me always.
[1] as seen on the homepage of spellingbee.com, the official website of the Scripps National Spelling Bee
