While the Scripps bee is 100 years old, a new champion is crowned: NPR

Faizan Zaki, a 13 -year -old from Texas, has just won the National Scripps Spelling Bee scripps.

His winning word was “lighting up”, a French word which means clarification, explanation or illumination.

Zaki is the 100th winner of the bee and the finalist last year. The first competition took place in 1925 in Washington, DC, and only nine children participated, according to Scripps. Frank Neuhauser, eleven years old, won $ 500 in gold coins. This year, more than 200 students have contributed and to take place until the end, Zaki will bring back more than $ 50,000, a library of medals, trophies and reference.

While he joined the Club of Scripps Champions, several former winners thought about their victories and the way in which the national bee has evolved, namely more popular (thanks to television) and more competitive (in 2019, eight children equally for first place).

Dan Greenblatt, 1984

“Luge” is a type of small sleigh in which two people can go downhill or lying.

In 1984, it was Dan Greenblatt’s winning word at the National Bee and the shortest word of all time.

After defeating 150 other students, Greenblatt said he had been taken to California to do talk-show interviews, which “healed me from my desire to be a famous unreserved reserve. I didn’t want to be a television star very much after that.”

Before the bee, Greenblatt studied by passing words several times with his mother.

“Everything was out until you fell,” he said.

Now the competition has become much more intense, said Greenblatt. Spelling has coaches, and there are written and vocabulary tests in the national bee. Eight -lane links In 2019, the “Octo-Champs” were nicknamed.

“They will have to make more changes in the future to remain a sort of length ahead of the game in this regard,” he said. “I think it broke a lot of brains.”

Greenblatt does not make a lot of spelling these days, at least not with the rigor of the Scripps bee. He judged certain local bees, but spent his career as a software engineer. For a long time, he said that he had moved away from talking to others about his championship status, as it often exceeded conversations.

But finally, he said that winning the bee helped him overcome his fear of speaking in public, made him comfort him on the camera and offered him the fearlessness.

“Everyone fails something, at least from time to time in their life. And it’s nothing to be ashamed. You learn from your mistakes and you continue. I think it’s a good thing that children can live,” he said.

Balu Natarajan, 1985

In his three consecutive races at the National Scripps bee, Balu Natarajan would prepare himself by painting a giant dictionary with his parents, writing the words on the sheets and using them as flashcards.

In 1985, he became the first Indian American to win the Scripps bee by properly spelling “environment”, which refers to someone’s social history.

“There were a lot of intrigue about an immigrant son winning national spelling, and that really validated me that persevering account a little,” he said.

Now Natarajan’s sons are participating in the national bee.

Natarajan, a doctor, said that when he grew up, the domestic computer was not used as a study tool. But now his sons are able to find out more on five times the number of words he has made using technology.

“I think it’s remarkable what these children do,” said Natarajan. “They really made this incredible effort, and being able to prepare for it, it’s really like a marathon or an Olympic sport.”

Kerry Close Guaragno, 2006

Kerry Close Guaragno’s winning word was “Ursprache”, a German word meaning a parent language.

She contributed four times before reaching first place, and this experience was useful for her work in public relations.

“Being a strong writer, being good with the language is a large part of my work,” she said. “But also, I would say the fact that the bee taught me the balance under pressure, how to think about your feet and think that strategically is definitely useful.”

These are lessons that today’s candidates will need, because the variety of words used in the bee continues to climb. Students are now invited to spell sentences, genus, drugs and more.

But like Natarajan, one of Guaragno’s most important dishes of her time at the bee is to continue.

And to all the other scripps competitors, she says: “You have made here, it’s great success. You have reached the national championship, and not all children can do this. Be proud of this accomplishment.”