"Oh, that was my first guess," Kate Miller (Speller 232) said upon misspelling "exochorion," the outer of the two layers that form the hardened covering of an insect egg.
The Abilene, Texas eighth grader gave a princess wave as she walked off stage and flopped onto the couch. With her free time, she said, she's going to watch "every horror movie on which I can get my hands."
Kate competed in 2012 and 2013.
Before the finals, Kate said getting to this point was like a dream.
"I'm floating on a cloud," she said. "I honestly felt like my chair was moving at the announcement. I am on top of the world."
Kate said she experienced the finals vicariously, through friends, "more than I can even stand."
"The lights, the publicity, the feeling your heart gets rushing on stage when you get a word you don't know," she said. "It's the best week of my life and it's not even over yet."
