V-I-C-T-O-R-Y: A 14-year-old Scappoose-area girl is looking to bring home the Scripps National Spelling Bee title after being named the regional champ a little closer to home.
By correctly spelling the word “auctorial,” Rubina Wiedemer won the Portland Regional Scripps National Spelling Bee and will be heading to Washington D.C. for the national competition.
“I was surprised and overwhelmed … I was involved in a six-round spell off with another home-schooled speller. There were extremely difficult words," Rubina Wiedemer said of her win.
Wiedemer, who lives just outside Scappoose and is part of Fossil Charter School's distance learning program, was among 36 spellers from 36 local schools, representing six different counties.
Among her accolades is the fact that is she the only Oregon student to qualify for the national competition later this month.
The Portland competition included a six-round, final-two matchup between Wiedemer and Katrina Eckert (first runner-up), who is from Coach Family Homeschool Group in Hillsboro.
Held at the University of Portland’s Buckley Center auditorium on Saturday, March 25, the ages of the participants ranged from 4 to 14.
Spellers studied “Words of the Champions,” a 4,000-word list provided by the Scripps National Spelling Bee, to prepare for the Portland competition.
In case you’re curious, "auctorial," the word Wiedemer correctly spelled to earn her championship bid, means “of or relating to an author.”
Wiedemer will be advancing to the 2024 Scripps National Spelling Bee near the nation’s capitol. Semifinals will be on May 29 and finals take place May 30. You can watch at home on KPXG Channel 22.
Rubina’s father, Matthew Wiedemer, said the Fossil Distance Learning Program provided the opportunity for students to participate in the Scripps spelling bee.
“They started a spelling bee club,” he said. “They would have regular meetings, where they would practice spelling words.”
A grade-level spelling bee was held at Fossil Charter School, where Rubina won her grade level competition. She also won the all-school spelling bee.
“Because she won the all-school spelling bee, she was moved on to the regional competition,” Matthew Wiedemer said.
She said she stayed focused at the Portland event, despite the pressure. “I tried to think about the task ahead, which was spelling words.”
Wiedemer’s father was pleased to see his daughter win the Portland competition.
“It was a little more stressful than I thought it was going to be,” he said. “We were kind of anxiously awaiting the response of the judges after every word. It was a really exciting competition. It was a spell-off round between the final two contestants.”
He added, “We’re very proud of her, and amazed and in awe of her accomplishment.”
The Portland regional Scripps competition was sponsored by Telemundo and MeTV Portland.
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