Spelling is no nuisance for winner of Fall River 5th Grade bee

Dominic Jimenez stood before hundreds of friends and classmates, trying to solve a riddle that is 1,000 years old.

FALL RIVER – Dominic Jimenez stood before hundreds of friends and classmates, trying to solve a riddle that is 1,000 years old.

How do you spell in a motley language like English? (Motley: Round 8.)

“I just spell it in my head,” he said. Plus, it is important to always have a book in your knapsack. (Knapsack: Round 2.)

“I read. I’ve seen people write it before, so I know it,” he added.

Jimenez, a student at the Viveiros School, was the first place finisher in the city’s 30th annual fifth-grade spelling bee, held Thursday in the auditorium at Durfee High.

He got to the bee by spelling better than anyone in his class and then correctly spelling every word offered to him by Superintendent Matthew Malone, the announcer for the program. None of the 33 students who qualified for the citywide bee matched that feat.

In Round 5, Jimenez was the only contestant to correctly spell his word: Chandelier. Other students fell on words like austere, quarantine, laryngitis and diminutive.

Denise Ward, the retired principal of the Silvia School, was the master of ceremony. Her daughter won the first fifth-grade spelling bee in 1988. The contest has been held every year since.

Fifth graders from every public school filed into Durfee before 9 a.m. Thursday and immediately the room went from quiet to loud. Two boys from Tansey sat in the second row.

“There is gum under here,” the first announced a moment after he sat.

“I’m not surprised,” his friend said. “This is a big kid school.”

“Gross,” the first boy answered.

The students were coached before the bee on how to figure out words, organizer Susan Steen said.

But what do you do with a language like English? It was cobbled together in its first 1,000 years and then borrowed from everyone for the second 1,000.

So the students had to wade through the spelling of words like shogun, from Japanese, stoic, from Greek and enthusiasm, originally from Latin but modified by French.

As the rounds went on, the students got more confident. They spelled difficult words as though they were ordinary. (Ordinary: Round 4.)

Round 9: Fidgeted, interfere, disguise, ceramics.

Round 10: Persuade, symphony, contingency.

After 14 rounds - nuisance and mildew - the winners were declared: Jimenez first, Emilynn Alves of Letourneau second; Cebastein Sylvain of Watson third; Anthony Sylvia of Greene, fourth; Bianca Cabral of Tansey, fifth.

And the secret to his success – the spelling bonanza, Jimenez was asked? (Bonanza: Round 2.)

“I don’t know,” Jimenez said. “I didn’t expect to win.”

Email Kevin P. O’Connor at koconnor@heraldnews.com.

Fall River 5th Grade Spelling Bee