The Spelling Bee

When you are just months away from being senior in school you start remembering everything you did when you entered school, your first friends, your favorite teacher, etc. In this case I remember the first contest that I entered to win a medal.

I think I was in third grade and our English teacher told us that there was going to be a spelling bee and that all classes were going to participate and they would do elimination rounds until there were left only the best 3 students of each class. The winners from each section would compete in a final round during the cultural week in front of the whole school and our parents.  In my section I remember we were 28 kids and I got really nervous because in my class were the 3 smartest kids of all third grade. The elimination day finally arrived and everybody in the classroom was really excited about winning and classifying to the final and 3 so they could compete in cultural week. The teacher entered the classroom and she told everyone to stand up, after that she said a word and she told a girl to spell it correctly, I think it was an easy word but to a third grader I suppose it should’ve been really hard to spell correctly words that you don’t remember how are written, that girl misspelled the word so the teacher told her to sit down.

Everyone was nervous because we didn’t know what other words the teacher had prepared for that round. After spending a whole, 40 minutes, period in that we finally were only 10, the 3 kids that were really good, me and some other kids. Mrs. Montserrat, I remember that was her name, told someone to spell the word BUZZ , so that boy started spelling B-O-S-S  “that’s it” he said. The teacher told him that it was incorrect so he sat down and the pressure was increasing for the ones that were still stood up. Later that day we completed elimination round and me and two of the other kids passed to the final that was next week.  The teacher gave us a list with a lot of words that jury could possibly ask us in the contest, in that list was the word JUICE. I spent the rest of the week and the weekend studying that list because I wanted to win and I wanted to show everyone that I was even smarter than those 3 kids in my class. I studied that list as if my life depended on it. Finally it was Monday and the competition was at 10am in the school auditorium. A teacher came and told the finalists from my class that we have to go to the auditorium and wait for the competition to start. The moment finally arrived when I finally was in that place I realized that I was going to be a tough competition not only because we were the best kids but also because we were a lot, 24. 

The moment of the truth was here and we were guided to the auditorium and we entered in the main door so everyone was able to see us. I remember it was a really big crowd between parents and my classmates and kids from other grades. Went up on stage and there was a chair for each of us. The first kid was called “Maria Fernanda Samayoa please stand up” our teacher said. She spelled correctly her word so the teacher told her “sit down.” 

I was among the last kids waiting their turn to spell. A kid that was before me misspelled his word so it was my turn. I saw my dad, my mom and all my friends in front of me when I step up and went to the front of the stage. “Spell the word juice please” the teacher said, so I started “J-W-, no, no. what’s the definition” I asked and my teacher told me the definition, then I started again. I was really nervous because everyone was watching me and I had forgotten how to say the letter “u”. “J-E-W-S” I said, “no that’s incorrect” the teacher said. When I heard those three words I was devastated I could not believe that I failed in my first attempt. I was eliminated from the contest and with it my pride. After that I completely forgot about the contest a started talking with the other kids. Teachers told us to find our class and stay with them if he had already been eliminated. 

Later that day I went with my dad and I started to cry because I lost my chance to win the spelling bee and I really wanted to win it. When I got home from school I was very sad because I had lost the spelling bee.  My dad gave me a consolation prize so I could move on and forget that contest, but I can’t forget it because it was the first contest I entered.