Busy Bees
Helping the next generation of spellers to take off on their spelling bee journeys!
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The Benefits of Bee Week
5/10/26
Dear Speller,
Do you know what is special about May? It is the month of the Scripps National Spelling Bee!!! Bee Week is the best week of the year, and whether or not you are competing, you should be planning on having A LOT of fun. Obviously, if you are competing, you will be very busy all week, but for those of you who are not competing, this is still a great opportunity to learn!
At around this time last year, I was a bit of a rebel, and now, I have a confession to make. At the end of the year, I skipped my class’s end of year rafting trip, and it was not due to anxiety over being in the outdoors (although that was part of it), but really, it was because I NEEDED to watch the spelling bee.
For two days in a row, I woke up at the crack of dawn, got out of bed, threw on a sweatshirt, and was ready to watch the spelling bee at six AM. Sure, I was tired, but I was so excited! In fact, this is a new tradition of mine, as I plan on watching the Scripps National Spelling Bee in its entirety, each year for the foreseeable future. Watching the spelling bee is also a great learning experience! After the preliminaries, I wrote down each word that was given to a speller, and in the end I had a list of spelling bee words that would be great for a young speller to study from, just to get used to the difficulty of the words at national level.
Additionally, the announcers at Nationals often have really interesting things to say, which, as a speller, you can use to your advantage. Specifically, when the 2024 Scripps National Spelling Bee Champion, Bruhat Soma, spent a few minutes announcing last year, I learned SO MUCH from what he had to say.
I know it may not be the most fun thing ever to spend hours a day sitting in front of the TV; I get it, but come on, it’s Bee Week, and Bee Week is the best week, both for having fun, and for learning.
P.S. Strategy of the Week: Make plans to watch the Scripps National Spelling Bee at the end of the month.
This is the result of my goofing around while watching the preliminaries of the Scripps National Spelling Bee early in the morning last year, but hey, at least it’s a spelling bee sweatshirt!
The Complex Definition of “You”
5/3/26
Dear Speller,
Do you remember all the words that have gotten you eliminated over the years? I remember all of mine. In third grade, it was “therapeutic,” then it was “oodles” and “camalote.” After that, it was “cambric,” and then it was “holocaust.” My final year, I was eliminated on “Catoctin.”
In my notes app, I have a list of words I hate. This list consists solely of the words mentioned above, and I wonder why. (Not).
Every once in a while, my ballet teacher will describe a step as “therapeutic.” I would always love to ask him why he is swearing, especially as a teacher, but then I remember that I am the only one who considers “therapeutic” to be a bad word.
Why am I programmed to hate these words instead of simply learning from them?
I feel that as a general rule, people are so focused on their negative aspects. I always find that in quiet moments, I seem to be bullying myself, thinking thoughts like, ugh, Juliette, you are SO stupid! This is the perfect opportunity for you, as a child, to learn from my mistakes.
As a speller, it is important to understand that one word does not define you. You know how to spell thousands of really challenging words, and the fact that there is one word that may challenge you, does not mean that you are not a good speller. Why not focus on all the words that you do know? Think about it this way: each year, nearly 11 million students compete in spelling bees, and in the end, only one person is named the Scripps National Spelling Bee Champion. Do you think that all those other spellers are dumb just because they spelled a word wrong? I know I don’t! You should view yourself in the same way. Life would be so much easier if instead of spending time crying after being eliminated for misspelling one word, we were all just celebrating all the words that we spelled correctly. I will leave you now, to think that over for a few days.
As Ever Yours,
Juliette Anderson
P.S. Strategy of the Week: Pick out 50-100 words that give you trouble, and spend time going over them again and again, but be kind to yourself. It is okay to make mistakes!
My fourteenth birthday present…
The Power of Memory
4/26/26
Dear Speller,
When I think of the spelling bee, I automatically want to burst out laughing and smiling, but I also want to cry. The spelling bee holds so many memories for me, both bad and good, and these memories are what keep me here, as a part of the spelling bee community.
Personally, many memories stand out to me. There was the time when, as a fourth grader, I watched my mom fall to her knees with joy after I won the spelling bee.
Then, there was the day I won the district spelling bee as a seventh grader, and carried my trophy to my friend’s house, where we met, and drove off on a road trip. For the first time in months, I felt like I could relax, if only for a few days.
Then of course, I remember when I met Scripps National Spelling Bee Champions Jacques Bailly, Vanya Shivashankar, and Dev Shah. I had looked up to these spellers for such a long time. They were my idols, people I read about in the news, people who were bigger than life, like characters from a fairytale. Suddenly, they were popping out of the pages in human flesh, greeting me with welcoming smiles. My father even sat next to Jacques Bailly on the bus when we returned to the Gaylord Hotel from our picnic at Audi Field.
Then of course, there are the bad memories, such as those late nights I spent in fifth grade, when, even months after a disappointing spelling bee, I would lie awake at night, unable to sleep, hysterically crying for the competition I had lost.
Whether these memories are good or bad, they fuel my love for the spelling bee, as I feel something for this competition that I do not feel for anything else. I feel that the spelling bee is my passion.
As you continue competing in spelling bees, I encourage you to keep making these memories as well. While spelling bees can be stressful, try not to always feel stressed. Work hard, study all the time, but also be in the moment. The more memories you make, the more you will end up loving the spelling bee.
The years I spent competing in spelling bees have been the best years of my life, at least so far. This may be the case for you as well, so try to make some long-lasting memories.
As Ever Yours,
Juliette Anderson
P.S. Strategy of the Week: Start keeping a journal of your time studying. Write about how you feel, what stresses you, and what excites you. Include as many words from your study list as possible, in order to ensure that in this record keeping, you are also getting more prepared for upcoming competitions.
My dad sitting with Jacques Bailly and somewhat me, on the bus (also one of the highlights of my life)
Speak Out
4/20/26
Dear Speller,
I know this is going to sound weird coming from the girl who will never talk to anyone unless they talk to her first, the girl who will always give the shortest answers to everything, but today, I am going to talk to you about talking to reporters.
In the fifteen years that I have been alive, I have gone through many news interviews: some as the one being interviewed and some as the reporter (actually, most of them were all in the last two years). When you are a speller, news interviews are all perfectly normal. It is something to get used to. Perhaps you are like me and have a hard time talking to people. That is okay; if I can do it, you can do it. Trust me.
The most important thing is to say exactly how you feel. Be honest with the reporter. As a student journalist myself, I can say that when I am interviewing, I just want to hear something interesting. If you aren’t sure what to say, just think about what you would like people to know about this spelling bee and who you are as a speller. That is what you should tell the reporter. This is what my mom has always told me to do, and she says that nine times out of ten, you will be able to squeeze what you want to say into at least one question that the reporter asks.
Believe me, the first time I ever spoke to a reporter all I said to every question was “umm…yeah.” Interview skills come with time, but remember that talking to a reporter is never as hard as you think.
As Ever Yours,
Juliette Anderson
P.S. Strategy of the Week: Select fifty words that give you trouble, and write them each out ten times.
Saying how I feel…
Communicate
4/12/26
Dear Speller,
Each time you stand up at the mic, your main goal, of course, is to spell your word correctly. How do you do this? Well, the most obvious answer (and probably the best answer) is to study super hard in the months leading up to the spelling bee. When you are standing at the mic, spelling your word, however, you cannot control how hard you worked in the past, so what if during the spelling bee, you come across a word that you do not remember? This is when you need to get help.
Obviously, as a speller, you are the most important person in the spelling bee, and all the officials are there just for you. A good pronouncer will understand this, doing all that is in their power to make sure that you understand the word. With this in mind, it is always helpful to ask questions. Remember, there are a few things that you can always ask the pronouncer for, such as a definition, an alternate pronunciation, a sentence, the language of origin, the part of speech, and you can also ask the pronouncer to repeat the word. If you do not recognize a word, your go-to thing to ask for is an alternate pronunciation. There is a good chance that the pronouncer is just pronouncing the word in a way that you are not familiar with. If that still does not help, go ahead and ask all the other questions; that way, you can get to understand the word as best you can. You can then make your best educated guess when it is time to spell the word.
If you are a total spelling bee nerd like me, you can also make some jokes to lessen your stress, and ask the pronouncer for the spelling of the word or to sing it in a song. Sidenote, if you do not get the references, check out Akeelah and the Bee as well as Spelling the Dream.
As someone who is so shy that half the time, I won’t even say hello to someone, even after they say hello to me, asking questions was never my strategy in a spelling bee. Regardless, I still recognize that it can be a game changer; you just need to feel comfortable talking to people (in other words, don’t be like me).
If you do not learn anything else from this, at least remember to talk to the pronouncer. They are there for you, and want to help you succeed. In your next spelling bee, try it out. Talk to the pronouncer; it can only help.
As Ever Yours,
Juliette Anderson
P.S. Strategy of the Week: When studying, and just in general, get in the habit of asking questions.
Not Afraid to Celebrate
4/5/26
Dear Speller,
Sometimes it may feel like the reward for winning a spelling bee is more of a punishment: more stress, more hard work, and no time to relax. As a speller, I used to always dream of the day when I suddenly wouldn’t have to spend every waking hour studying, when I could just simply exist, and that would be enough. You may be annoyed that after such a well-deserved victory, you cannot even pause to pat yourself on the back; you simply have to just keep digging your face in your word list. Let me tell you something, though: it is okay to take some time to celebrate.
Each time I won a spelling bee, I would often take a day or two to just relish in my victory. Of course, I would never stop studying all together, but instead of eight hours of studying, I would spend two or three hours studying, just for a couple of days, while I celebrated my victory. It is okay to celebrate sometimes. Your brain needs a break anyway, and this is the perfect excuse.
Dear champion, view this as an assignment rather than a suggestion: go outside and take a walk, read a book, write a poem, bake a cake; whatever you do, however, do not forget to never completely stop studying. Additionally, the ideal break should never last longer than three days.
As Ever Yours,
Juliette Anderson
P.S. Strategy of the week: Review the entire Words of the Champions list, and highlight any words you get wrong.
The day after winning the New Mexico State Spelling Bee, I had fun decorating my dad’s golf hat. It’s beautiful, I think, but unfortunately, he hasn’t worn it since.
For Whom the Bell Tolls
3/27/26
Dear Speller,
As the New Mexico State Spelling Bee was held just this weekend, and I have been watching online, I have been thinking about how difficult it can be to get eliminated in a spelling bee. I thought that as regional competitions approach, and begin coming to a close, it may be helpful to focus on the bell today. Let’s face it: elimination is a speller’s biggest fear, but today, it’s time for all of us to face our fears. Each year, millions of students compete in spelling bees, and almost each year, only one speller walks out of the Scripps National Spelling Bee with the Scripps Cup (with the exception of Co-champs and the Octochamps). Odds are, you are going to spell a word wrong.
When you first hear the bell, it may come as a shock. You may feel disappointed; this is all normal. Just know that you did your best; you worked hard, and you learned some new words. In the grand scheme of things, that is far more valuable than some chunk of metal. In time, all bad feelings will dissolve.
At this point, in order to do even better in the spelling bee next year, it is time to begin studying again. You may be thinking, Wait, you want me to start studying for next year, before this year is over?, but trust me; when next year does come around, you will feel much more prepared and at ease. You don’t have to jump into full gear immediately, but do a few rounds of word club each day, make some flashcards, and get in the mindset for next year. Focusing on what is to come will help you get over any remaining disappointment from this year.
Eighth graders, I am not entirely sure what to say to you. Your time in the spelling bee has come to an end. Perhaps, like me, you are lonely, sad, and not quite sure who you are without the spelling bee in your life. I am the same. I wish I had a recipe for finding a new passion, but the truth is, I do not. I am still trying to find myself after my time in the competition came to an end. Just know that I am here for you. In time, I suppose we will all realize who we are outside of the world of spelling.
As Ever Yours,
Juliette Anderson
P.S. Strategy of the week:
Identify twenty words that give you trouble, and make a flashcard for each of them.
Me drinking a milkshake shortly after being eliminated at the National Spelling Bee
This is me one month later, pretending to be happy, while very sadly contemplating what to do with my life post-spelling bee. I wasn’t pretending very well, was I?
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