5th-grader wins state spelling bee

BUTTE — Can you spell diathermy without looking it up? How about supercilious or archaebacteria?

Don’t worry — this reporter couldn’t either. He had to ask Hunter Park, an 11-year-old Butte Elementary School fifth-grader and winner of this year’s Alaska State Spelling Bee.

Diathermy, which is a medical technique, was the word Park spelled correctly to qualify for the upcoming Scripps National Spelling Bee, slated for June 1-2 in Washington, D.C. When he’s not spelling words — and he admits that since his state win people throw words at him all the time — he’s like any other fifth-grader.

He likes recess, playing outside and wants to be an archaeologist when he grows up. He also recognizes he has a talent for spelling, and is willing to work to develop it.

“I probably noticed (he could spell better than most) in first grade,” he said. “I’ve been a good speller as long as I can remember. I don’t know why, probably it’s because I just work hard, learning what I need to learn and keep on track.”

For the state competition, he studied “some,” but not excessively. At 11, he’ll be one of the youngest at the national competition, which is open to state winners up to age 13. He also expects that from now until his trip to Washington, D.C., his study time will increase dramatically.

“When you win (at state), you win this little dictionary and you study the words in that,” he said.

How many words in that dictionary?

“Oh, that’s kind of a hard question,” he said. “Probably thousands of words. It’s a lot.”

That Park advanced to the state spelling bee wasn’t unexpected. He won Butte Elementary’s spelling bee the year before as well. In 2010, he placed 25th at state. Making that jump all the way to first in one year “was kind of surprising,” he said.

“No I wasn’t really expecting it, but I knew I’d do good,” he said.

Although he won, there were a couple of times Park admits he “just guessed” at a word.

The hardest was probably accolade, he said. “I was up there and was like, ‘I don’t know if it’s a-c-h or a-c-k,’ so I tried a-c-c- and got that far. Then, I didn’t know if it was acc-a-lade or acc-o-lade,’ and I just kind of guessed on that word.”

Serious spellers at times use different techniques for competition. They’re not allowed to write out the words on paper, so some use their fingers to pretend their writing. For Park, he visualizes how a word looks in his mind. He also gets clues by knowing the origins of words.

“Like, if the word’s French, usually there’s the z rule,” he said. “That’s usually that it makes the A sound, like rendezvous. It kind of just, like, imagine what’s on the list and think of it and it’ll come to me and I can spell it.”

Park said he generally doesn’t get nervous for spelling bees, but doesn’t know what to expect under the spotlight of the national competition, which is also televised on ESPN.

“I’m just amazed,” he said about his reaction to winning state. “I never thought I could do it in fifth grade, so it does kind of surprise me.”

Asked who’s a better speller, himself or his teacher, Park is confident.

“It’s probably me,” he said.

But while he’s the best speller at Butte and in Alaska, there may be some sibling rivalry brewing. Park’s sister, Madison, is a third-grader at Butte Elementary and placed second to her older brother in the school’s spelling bee.

Contact Greg Johnson at greg.johnson@frontiersman.com or 352-2269.