Without the help of an outrageously priced coach or tutor, some with rates at $200 an hour, Long Beach seventh-grader Medina “Dina” Miranda, tied for 19th place in the 91st Scripps National Spelling Bee competition in Washington, D.C. in late May.
As if making it to the national competition wasn’t enough cause for celebration, going all the way to the finals just cemented the feeling of elation for the 13-year-old Stanford Middle School student and her family.
“I was just really shocked because I didn’t think I would get in,” Dina said. “I heard my name and was like ‘What!?’”
“At that point she already won by making it to D.C. so just being on the final stage was a dream come true for her for sure,” said her mother Malu Miranda. “To this day I’m still speechless.”
The celebration wasn’t limited to just Dina’s family who was in the audience during the weeklong event, though. The whole city of Long Beach cheered on from the beginning as she became the first Long Beach Unified School District student to win the countywide Scripps Regional Spelling Bee in March.
She even got a shout-out from the creator of the hit Broadway musical Hamilton, Lin-Manuel Miranda, of whom she is a big fan.
Let Dina know I believe her, and I'm rooting for her! https://t.co/F2wC5ERMTR
— Lin-Manuel Miranda (@Lin_Manuel) May 3, 2018
After spelling correctly words like “nephelognosy,” “polymorphous,” and “amphipneustic,” it was “orans”—a noun meaning a figure in an attitude of prayer, usually standing, with the elbows close to the sides of the body and with the hands outstretched sideways, palms up—that she spelled incorrectly by adding a U after the O.
Long Beach Middle Schooler Eliminated in National Spelling Bee Finals
“I never studied it, [but I’m] not forgetting it after that,” she said.
So what helped Dina make it all the way to the seventh round of the competition?
“I just looked at some really obscure lists and root words and root languages,” Dina said nonchalantly.
Dina’s love for knowing where a word comes from and what it means and breaking down the prefix and suffix also helps in her studying, said Malu who participated in spelling bees in middle school as well.
And it seems to have paid off. Dina has made it to the county spelling bee every year since she was old enough to qualify in third grade. She even placed second as a fifth-grader.
While it was a class spelling bee in second grade that helped Dina realize she enjoyed the competition, Malu said she saw potential in her daughter at a young age.
“She started reading fairly early. She would read postcards at age 3 and just enjoy seeing new words,” Malu said. “Every word was new to her at that age so she was just a curious child. When the school offered spelling bees, we thought this was right up her alley.”
Dina plans to try once again next year, the last time she’ll be able to compete. The cut-off is 8th grade.
“She has one more shot, but she’s excited,” said Malu, adding that the activities organizers held for the kids and their family members made the experience even more worthwhile. “Just to cultivate that learning experience, and she made friends from all over the country, some from other parts of the world. It’s been a great experience.”