Monelison student at national spelling bee

By Annie McCallum
Media General News Service
Published: May 28, 2008

Monelison Middle School seventh grader Samantha Mihalik admitted she’s a little nervous.

Who wouldn’t be?

On May 25, Samantha and her family traveled to D.C. where she represented the area in the 2008 Scripps National Spelling Bee.

- Quarterfinals will be broadcast live on ESPEN360.com May 29 at 2 p.m.

- Semifinals will be broadcast live on ESPN May 30 at 11 a.m.

- Championship finals will be broadcast live on ABC May 30 at 8 p.m.

The national bee, which includes spellers from 280 different sponsors, started with a preliminary round Sunday where spellers tapped out correct word spellings on keyboards.

The bee continues May 29 with the quarterfinals competition, which is done orally.

Before arriving in the nation’s capital, Samantha said she spent plenty of time studying, but that doesn’t necessarily calm her.

“I’m very nervous,” she said.

Leading up to the bee, Samantha said it’s been study, study, study. To prepare she spent at least an hour every day poring over various study materials, including a root word dictionary.

“I learned the hard way you need to study a lot,” she said.

This year’s regional bee marked was the third one Samantha participated in. She said her first year out she didn’t study, but this time was different.

She was ready.

Guillotine was her winning word in the regional competition held in March at Dunbar Middle School for Innovation.

Guillotine. G-U-I-L-L-O-T-I-N-E. Guillotine.

Samantha’s win came as a surprise to her parents, Tina and Bob Mihalik.

“They didn’t realize how far I would get,” Samantha said.

As she watched from the crowd, Tina said, it never dawned on her Samantha could become the regional winner.

“When it got down to the last three, I thought ‘Oh my gosh. She could win,’” Tina said.

Tina added she admires her daughter’s thoughtful and calculated attitude, characteristics that no doubt help make Samantha a spelling champ.

“She’s really different. She’s not really a typical little girl. Everything she does is really well thought out,” Tina said. “That’s surprising at her age.”

So is the spelling know-how hereditary?

Tina said she was in a few bees as a young girl, but she never got as far as Samantha. She attributes her daughter’s success, instead to her Amherst County education. 

“She’s always loved reading and writing and the fact her grade school pushed it so much,” Tina said. “Her love for words just came from that.”

As for Dad, he said there’s no doubt, Samantha’s spelling skills are not from him.

“If I write something I run spell check,” he joked.