Maui 8th-grader outspells competition to take state title
By Peter Boylan
Advertiser Staff Writer
Jasmine Siefman won the Hawai'i State Spelling Bee yesterday, giving the Valley Isle its second state champion in a row.
Siefman, 13, an eighth- grader from Kalama Intermediate School in Kula, became the fourth competitor from the Neighbor Islands to win the title in the past 18 years.
The word that won the championship: luminiferous.
Siefman and her father flew the district trophy, awarded annually to the school that produces the state champion, to the Bee at Windward Community College on behalf of last year's winner, Maui Waena's Nathaniel Salazar. Now, Jasmine gets to take the trophy back to Maui.
Siefman outlasted a field of 13 other contestants that included four qualifiers back for a second shot at the state title and one student whose father is serving in Iraq.
She withstood a fierce charge from runner-up Irwin Jiang, a Cathedral School eighth-grader.
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Jiang, an accomplished pianist whose parents emigrated from Shanghai 12 years ago, didn't ask for any help until the final round.
Jasmine Siefman, an eighth-grader at Kalama Intermediate School, gets a hug from her father, Robert, after winning the Hawai'i State Spelling Bee yesterday.
Faced with the word "truculent," Jiang asked pronouncer Lyla Berg to repeat the word. After hearing it twice, Jiang, who said he told his parents not to show up yesterday, misspelled the word, setting the scene for Siefman.
Siefman spelled luminiferous correctly.
"The only thing I was worried about was that I would get a word I didn't know," said Siefman, who started studying for the event three weeks ago. "If I didn't win, I'd want a chance to come back. But I won."
Robert Siefman, Jasmine's father, jumped out of his chair and screamed after Jasmine was officially named the winner.
He said Jasmine wouldn't let him test her until the night before the competition.
"(Jasmine's victory) is an example of not only being intelligent but also determined," Robert Siefman said. "This is great. It's the ultimate pride for a parent."
Robert Siefman said his daughter has been a voracious reader since she was a child. He said Jasmine reads two to three books a week, and that appetite for language helped her win yesterday.
Berg, president and CEO of Kids Voting, and Stephanie Lum of KHNL News 8 served as pronouncer and host, respectively.
As the winner, Siefman earns a trip for two to Washington D.C., to compete in the 77th annual Scripps National Spelling Bee, set for May 30-June 4.
The Bee was a nerve rattling experience for all involved, competitors and parents.
At the outset, the kids sat in varying stages of stress.
Some contestants stared at their feet, rarely making eye contact with television cameras. Others clenched and unclenched their hands, tangling their fingers in a tense mass. Few looked calm, as all leaned forward in their seats, anxious to get in front of the microphone.
Accurate spellers were sent to the next round with a nod from the judges and the wave of a yellow sign. Losers were dismissed with a single ping from a service bell.
"It was much harder then the district competition because the camera is in front of you," said Radiant Cordero, a St. Patrick School 8th grader.
But the tense nature of the competition was also felt by the competitor's parents.
"I'm very proud of him, but I can tell he's very nervous," said Nicole Redekop-Slattery, whose son, Wes, a Wheeler Intermediate School 8th grader, participated yesterday.
Wes' father, Army Staff Sgt. Mike Slattery, is stationed at Baghdad International Airport in Iraq. Nicole Slattery said her husband e-mailed Wes a good luck note before the competition.
Reach Peter Boylan at 535-8110 or pboylan@honoluluadvertiser.com.
