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First-time spelling bee contestant from Maui wins state competition

Lokelani 8th grader will represent Hawaii at nationals

By Dakota Grossman 4 min read

Lokelani Intermediate School's Simione Olakauatu took home gold at this year's Hawaii State Spelling Bee in his first-ever spelling bee season, securing a place in the national competition.

"It's an honor to represent Hawaii, to represent Maui," Olakauatu said Tuesday afternoon.

Entering spelling competitions was never on the 8th grader's mind, until his middle school teacher had the students participate in a small spelling challenge of their own.

"She made the whole class compete against each other and I won that one, and then I stepped forward to compete against other classes and against the whole school, and I won that too," he said with a laugh. "So I had no choice but to keep going forward."

After Olakauatu won his school's spelling bee, he signed up and won the Maui District Spelling Bee, which yielded 13 participants from seven schools in mid-February. This advanced him to the Hawaii State Spelling Bee on March 5, where there were 12 students.

Eighth grader Rachael Bandy of Iao Intermediate finished second in the Maui District behind Olakauatu, and 7th grader Andrew Chavez of Maui Waena followed in third.

The top two winners of each Hawaii district participate in the Hawaii State Spelling Bee, which is usually held on Oahu where the students spell a series of difficult words on stage before an audience and a panel of judges.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this year's events were held virtually instead of canceling them altogether.

"The Spelling Bee is one of the oldest competitions in our nation," 2021 Hawaii State Spelling Bee organizers said in a news release. "It not only teaches our students to spell words, but did you know they also have to learn their meaning, origin and any alternate pronunciations? On top of that, this whole experience gives our keiki the opportunity to experience positive self-development of good work ethic, study habits, thinking and acting under pressure, pushing through challenges, making calculated decisions, speaking in front of people, asking the right questions, gaining confidence and striving under a different kind of 'sport.'"

During a normal year, nearly 100 schools across the state register with the Scripps National Spelling Bee, according to the news release. This school year, only 28 participated.

In each round, every contestant spells a new word. One mistake eliminates the student from the bee.

Whenever Olakauatu felt nervous during the competition, he said, "I just take deep breaths and I remember that I'm doing this for my mom, for my parents."

The words typically get more complicated in every round, and Olakauatu said he couldn't remember the final word that earned him first place, though "some of the hardest words" presented to him were of Indonesian origin.

Olakauatu said the highlights of a spelling bee include "competing and answering a lot of questions, and it's really exciting to see what my score is."

Memorizing up to 4,000 words from the Scripps online study guide and reviewing the dictionary two hours a day is what it took for Olakauatu to win the bees.

And, when he's not studying, he said he enjoys spending time with his grandmother or playing video games. Once the school year is up, Olakauatu hopes to attend Lahainaluna and play football.

Michelle Tom, Maui District Spelling Bee coordinator, told The Maui News that he will "proudly represent our state" at the virtual 2021 Scripps National Spelling Bee this summer.

According to Scripps, the top 10 to 12 finalists will travel to the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex at Walt Disney World Resort in Florida after advancing through the preliminary, quarterfinal and semifinal rounds.

The competition will be broadcast on ESPN2.

* Dakota Grossman can be reached at dgrossman@mauinews.com.

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