NASCC Riverside 2018

Cameron Keith of Boulder, Colorado holds his trophy after being declared champion of the 2018 North America Spelling Champion Challenge. (Photo by David Lau)

     The North America Spelling Champion Challenge (NASCC) is an annual spelling camp and bee organized by the Spelling Bee of China (SPBCN). A number of Chinese and American spellers participate. It's more than just a competition--combined with the camp, the event facilitates cultural exchanges as well as learning about spelling and the English language. The inaugural NASCC was held in California just three years ago in 2015. Since then, it has grown by leaps and bounds every single year. In 2016, several Scripps finalists competed at the NASCC for the first time; this was also the year that I won the NASCC. In 2017, there were more spellers than ever, as well as more Scripps finalists competing than the previous year. Due to all of this growth, two NASCCs were held for the first time in 2018--one in Towson, Maryland, and one in Riverside, California the week immediately following the Towson NASCC. Both were excellent events and competitions, and I had the privilege of being present as a volunteer at the Riverside NASCC. It was a very busy week, but in the best way--it was incredibly inspiring and fun for at least a dozen reasons, and I believe that many of the spellers and others present at the event feel the same way.
     The week began with an opening ceremony in which a number of spellers showcased their talents (besides, of course, spelling). There were also speeches from organizers about what to expect throughout the coming week. For the spellers, the next four days were filled with spelling classes alternating with other fun group activities. I had the opportunity to help out in a number of spelling classes, as well as to help demonstrate the rules of the new team competition to the teams who were going to participate. More on that soon. On Friday, a closing ceremony took place for the camp, with more performances from spellers, as well as speeches from last year’s champion, Shourav Dasari, and Kieran McKinney, one of the participants at this year’s Riverside NASCC who also competed in the 2017 and 2018 Scripps National Spelling Bee.
     After that, it was time for the competition to begin. The individual competition, which was the main focus of the weekend, was amazing to watch. The championship finals, featuring the final 11 spellers, narrowed the field down to 2 after just three rounds. The final two spellers were California’s Aisha Randhawa and Colorado’s Cameron Keith, both three-time Scripps National Spelling Bee participants who have also both made the finals there multiple times. They then dueled for 18 more rounds before Cameron eventually won on the word “listel.” Aisha came very close to winning at one point, but she misspelled “hysteriagenics,” her anticipated championship word. Both Cameron and Aisha were thoroughly impressive to watch and I congratulate them both sincerely.
     Spelling bee history was also made this last weekend in Riverside. SPBCN has held team competitions before, but never outside of China. This weekend, that changed. A team competition consists of a series of spelling games played by teams of 5 students. Whichever team has more points at the end of the series of games wins the competition. There were two divisions for this team competition--primary and middle school. The primary school competition started with two American and one Chinese team, and the final was between the two American school teams--a team from Lake Mathews Elementary School in Riverside, which emerged victorious, and a team from Benjamin Franklin Elementary School, also in Riverside. The middle school competition began with two Chinese teams and two American teams, and the final two teams were from the Suzhou Foreign Language School and Riverside STEM Academy (the former a school in China, the latter a school in the US). Riverside STEM Academy won the middle school division. I had the chance to judge the primary school team competition, and it was a great honor to be a part of such an important moment in bee history!
     This last week was so wonderful in so many ways for everyone involved with the Riverside NASCC. It was a completely unmatched experience, and I imagine and hope that all of the spellers and other people who were involved feel the same way as I do.

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