Maine Spelling Bee Champ, Imogen Page!

Do you know a word that means enjoyment obtained from others' troubles? The word is schadenfreude and Imogen Page of Blue Hill not only knows that word but she knows how to spell it! Imogen is Maine's champion speller who recently traveled to Washington DC to compete in the 82nd Scripps National Spelling Bee.

This was Imogen's second trip to the national bee and this year she came very close to competing in the semifinals, missing it by just a few points. Imogen took her MLTI iBook to Washington with her to help her study and prepare for the bee. We "spoke" to her recently (virtually, through email) and she told us a bit about her Washington experience and how she became a champion speller.

Q: How did you become interested in competing in the spelling bee? And how long have you been
doing this?
A: I entered my first bee in grade 6- my first opportunity. I placed well in the school bee and went on to the Union 93 bee, where I was eliminated. Still, I wanted to come back and do better. In England, where I lived until I was nine, there were no bees. However, my dad, who is American, told me about them and I was really intrigued, and that's really why I've competed the last three years, the last two of which I made it to the Nationals during.

Q: How you you prepare? Do you have lists of words to study? Do other people help and coach you?
Do you use your iBook in any way to prepare? Are there online resources that help you?
A: I studied lists published by the Scripps National Spelling Bee: Spell It and the Consolidated Word
List, as well as a particular list they sent out for Round 3 of the 2009 bee. I downloaded these lists onto my school laptop, as well as the CD-Rom of Merriam-Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, and I used these to study. I also printed off some of the lists and carried them around with me. I kept a notebook of words last year, but this year preferred to use the Stickies program to keep lists of words, as I spent more time on my iBook than I did last year. I also used the many spelling resources found online. I checked many online words on the day and spelling quizzes*, and visited the bee's web site often to check the weekly spelling blog, Carolyn's Corner. There were other
sites I visited, too, which helped. Access to the internet was definitely an enormous help. This year, I worked with a friend and neighbor, Veronica Young, and she would quiz me, using my laptop to read words to me and look them up in the dictionary. She was an enormous help, and her vocabulary, knowledge and insight into why words are spelled a certain way made a huge difference.

Q: What was the highlight of your trip to Washington DC? Did you meet any interesting people? Did you have time for sightseeing?
A: It would be difficult to choose a highlight, but apart from watching the finals live in the ballroom, something I really enjoyed was going to the National Gallery. I saw some beautiful small French paintings, Spanish still-life, and a great collection of modern art, including a Jackson Pollock. The banquet and party after the bee were also really fun, and I loved seeing my friends and godfathers in who live in DC. It was extremely hot and humid, which I'm unused to, and we were caught in several heavy rainstorms, which was actually a bit fun.

Q: What advice would you give to other students who want to excel at spelling and enter the spelling
bee?
A: One thing almost all good spellers have in common is a love of reading, and I would say that
reading everything you can get your hands on (ingredients of foods, shampoo bottles..... even books!) and exposing yourself to a lot of words. Just studying lists is boring, and you'll absorb words much better if you understand what they mean and how they were formed. If you can work hard, find weird words and the workings of language interesting, or even if you just like to read, you've got a good chance of succeeding at spelling. The skills I've developed in my two years of serious spelling will help me all my life, and the knowledge I've obtained can never be taken away. It's a really rewarding experience, however far you get. However, it should be noted: not everyone is a good speller, and not being able to spell does not mean by any means that you are not smart. It simply doesn't come easily to some people. Some of the most interesting people I know, who are musical, creative, love to read, fantastic artists and writers and conversationalists, just can't spell. There are so many other ways to win, other contests even, and other things to excel at. If spelling's one that works for you, great. If it happens not to be, that's fine, too.

Q: Is there anything else we should know?
A: I am really grateful to MLTI for giving me this laptop for the school years, and for allowing me to
take it with me to DC two years in a row to study and stay in touch with everyone at home. All year, this computer has helped me with spelling and school work. It has also been a great tool for another of my interests, songwriting. I have used iTunes and GarageBand to record and listen to music, the Internet to research, and the Stickies and word processing programs to write lyrics and poems. And while I'm not quite sure how I'll cope without it once I turn it in and leave the eighth grade, I now know how to use a modern computer, absolutely necessary in this modern age of the Internet, paperless documents and, yes, spell check.

Here are some web sites that Imogen recommends to anyone interested in learning about words and becoming a better speller:
*http://www.merriam-webster.com/cgi-bin/mwwod.pl
http://dictionary.reference.com/wordoftheday/
http://www.oed.com/cgi/display/wotd
http://www.nytimes.com/learning/students/wordofday/
http://education.yahoo.com/college/wotd/
http://www.quotationspage.com/wotd.html
http://www.zdaily.com/words.shtml
http://www.merriam-webster.com/cgi-bin/spquiz.pl
http://www.visualthesaurus.com/bee/

We congratulate Imogen on her achievement and wish her much success in high school!