Merriam-Webster’s dictionary defines silver as a very malleable chemical element with the atomic number of 47. It’s also a nearly neutral, slightly brownish, medium gray. To Hanahan Middle’s Siqi Fang, silver is a reminder of how nervousness can make or break your performance in a spelling bee.
Siqi misspelled silver in the first round of the 2022 BCSD Spelling Bee. She slightly groaned as she described the experience Tuesday night at the 2023 bee. It couldn’t be more fitting that the silver lining taken from her 2022 performance, led her to winning this year’s competition.
Siqi breezed through words like rabbinic, vespertine and cyanosis. She won the bee after successfully spelling regurgitate and retinol.
She admitted after winning that she was motivated by her 2022 performance. She studied.
Most participants nervously spelled words they were asked on the palms of their hands or on their arms, prior to speaking. While Siqi seemed calm and composed for many of her trips to the microphone, she revealed she was not without angst.
“I knew a lot of the words that were said, but I was still nervous. A lot of other people are really good, so I was a little nervous that I would forget something. I practiced… There’s no way I would have gotten those (difficult words) by guessing,” she said.
Finishing second in this year’s bee was Berkeley Middle’s Taylor Harrison. Javin Bhajan of Marrington Middle School of the Arts rounded out the top three. The top nine finishers in the 2023 BCSD Spelling Bee now advance to the regional competition scheduled for March at Charleston Southern University.
BCSD’s Top 9 (sorted by school)
Berkeley Middle – Taylor Harrison and Olivia Nguyen
Cane Bay Middle – Allen Hagloch
College Park Middle – Miranda Moody
Daniel Island School – Alice Liao
Hanahan Middle – Siqi Fang
Marrington Middle SOA – Javin Bhajan
Philip Simmons Middle – Laura Perry
Sedgefield Middle – Lena Marino