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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Sunday, March 17, 2002

At the end, it's a Hanalani bee

By Karen Blakeman
Advertiser Staff Writer

When seventh-grader Nathaniel Salazar misspelled the word "tutelage" in the 13th round of the Hawai'i State Spelling Bee, everyone knew that Hanalani School had won the championship.

Jessica Palola, 13, of Hanalani School, gets the good news: She spelled "genealogical" correctly and is the new the Hawai'i State Spelling Bee champion.

Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser

Salazar, a student from Maui who had spelled several difficult words before being ousted on a bad, mid-word vowel, had seemed a formidable opponent.

So had Chase Merritt, an eighth-grader from Leeward O'ahu who went 12 rounds without breaking a sweat, then inserted an extra vowel in the word "Cassiopeian."

But the boys were out, and both remaining contestants, eighth-graders Jessica Palola and Karynna Asao, were students at Hanalani. They had defeated 12 other students under the bright lights of Channel 8's TV studio on Pu'uhale Road, and every one of their competitors was a champion in his or her own right. Each had defeated their classmates in schools across the state to compete in the 17th annual Honolulu Advertiser State Spelling Bee.

Hanalani would win a new computer and printer from CompUSA, that much was certain. And the school would display the State Spelling Bee trophy, a monster almost as tall as some of the contestants. But only one Hanalani student would go to Washington, D.C., at the end of May to compete in the national championship, and the next few moments would decide who would go — and who would stay behind.

The two girls exchanged nervous glances. Hanalani principal Wayne Yoshino, spelling coach to both contestants, looked a little beside himself. Someone in the audience snapped a quick photo, and with even master of ceremonies Jim Leahey and pronouncer Lee Cataluna looking stressed, the final rounds began.

Jessica spelled "sophistry" correctly, and Karynna made it through "isoseismal" without a hitch. Jessica started Round 15 with the correct spelling of Rubicon, and that proved to be the turning point.

Nathaniel Salazar, Jessica Palola and Karynna Asao sit nervously in the last rounds of the spelling bee.

Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser

Karynna was stumped by the next word, "hortative," which means to give persuasive counsel. She said later that despite all her studying she was sure she had never seen the word before. She asked for the definition and had Cataluna use it in a sentence, then blew the spelling with an extra vowel.

Jessica took the title by correctly spelled "genealogical."

When Leahey pronounced her the winner, Jessica clasped her hands together and stood smiling for a moment before rushing to hug her sister, Jackie, and parents, Ernesto and Beth Palola. She paused between hugs to wipe away the little tears of relief that pooled in the corners of her eyes.

The 13-year-old winner said she thought she relaxed a little when she knew her school had won the championship, a thought that had crossed the mind of runner-up Karynna as well.

"But I wanted to win," Karynna, daughter of Roy and Karen Asao, said afterward.

Jessica said she was relieved she had not been required to spell "hortative" and was looking forward to the all-expense-paid trip to Washington, D.C. But the 'Ewa Beach girl had been to the nation's capital before.

Jessica Palola holds up the perpetual trophy that goes with the title of Hawai'i State Spelling Bee champion for 2002.

Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser

She'd been sent when she won the Association of Christian School state championship in sixth grade. She'd won in fifth grade, too, her father said, but the national championship that year was held in Colorado Springs.

"Third time's a charm," Ernesto Palola said of his daughter's upcoming national spelling bee.

Yoshino said he would put the state trophy in the school office, where everyone who saw it would ask him about it.

He smiled broadly as he contemplated his answers.

All 14 contestants won gifts from Sears, Island Heritage, Consolidated Theatres, Tesoro Hawaii, the Hawai'i Court Reporters Association and Anderson News Co.

Jessica, in addition to an all-expense-paid trip to Washington to compete in the Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee, won a $100 U.S. savings bond from Jay Sugarman, Spelling Bee merchandise, a Webster's Third New International Dictionary, a $200 Sears merchandise certificate, a gift basket from Island Heritage, and $100 from Dede and James Sutherland.