Deplorable is not usually a happy word.
For Lumby student Hannah May Ramis, it might just be her new favourite word.
Ramis correctly spelled deplorable to win the 2018 Spelling Bee of Canada provincial championship in the Junior division. She competed against 38 other students from across the province at the Khalsa School in Surrey. Ramis now advances to the National Spelling Bee of Canada in Toronto next month.
“I’m really happy that I won because it’s my first spelling bee,” said Ramis, who is in Grade 5 and home-schooled through the Ascend Online program.
After four rounds and about 140 words, seven students were left standing and headed into the tie-breaker round.
The first tie-breaker word was “chronometer.” Three kids misspelled the word but Ramis successfully spelled it when her turn came.
She was followed by Jacob Menke of Campbell River Christian School, who correctly spelled “oxygen.” The rest of the spellers misspelled their words so Ramis and Menke were declared the top-two finalists.
It was an intense several rounds as Menke and Ramis vied for the championship title, unable to correctly spell words such as “famulus,” “bipartite” and “baobab.”
Finally, after Menke misspelled “scullion,” Ramis had to spell the same word and then another word to be declared champion. She successfully spelled “scullion” and also spelled “deplorable” to cap the competition.
Not only does she get to go to the national finals, Ramis also collected $500 and a big trophy for the provincial title.
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