Can you say extraordinary?
I suspect that 6-year-old Lori Anne Madison can spell it - and it's one of the best words to describe her.
The young girl from Prince William County, Virginia, has just become the youngest speller eligible to participate in the Scripps National Spelling Bee, according to the event's record books, which date to 1993. Mike Hickerson, the bee's communications manager, said there have been four spellers since 1993 who were 8 years old.
Lori Anne, who is home-schooled, beat out 21 other kids in the county to win the bee, which enters her into the national bee.
The word that thrust her into the spotlight? "Vaquero," the Spanish translation of "cowboy," which is often used in Spanish-speaking parts of the South such as Texas, according to InsideNova.
The paper reported that after one of the last spellers missed her word, Lori Anne stepped up to the microphone, was given her word and without hesitation rattled off the spelling correctly.
Her parents said it was a word that had tripped her up before.
“We practiced that word several times because she kept getting it wrong,” mom Sorina Vlaicu Madison told InsideNova. “We really insisted on that word, so I knew for sure she would nail it.”
And nail it she did.
“It was better this time. It felt better,” the 6-year-old told the newspaper as she held her trophy.
“Look, this trophy is different from last year's,” Lori Anne said.
That's right, this isn't the little girl's first time at the spelling bee. Last year, she made it into the local top five. This year, she was determined to best herself.
Now, Lori Anne will have to dust off her flashcards and perhaps pop in a DVD of documentary "Spellbound," which looks at the phenomenon behind the famous spelling bee, in order to check out what the national spotlight would be like. Lori Anne will surely have the world watching her in May if she makes it through the rounds to ESPN's prime-time viewing of the Scripps Bee.
I've got a hunch that this girl is destined to be n-o-n-p-a-r-e-i-l.
"Could I get the definition, please?" you ask.
adjective: having no equal; peerless.
noun: a person or thing having no equal; in printing a "6-point type."
But Lori Anne probably already knows that.
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good for her and her parents who spent time and effort on spelling.... spelling, grammar, reading, mathematics, science.... please educate your child - take the time to work with them and help them.... parent participation is extremely important... wishing her the best!
I think it is great that her parents are providing a great education; however, I hope they allow her to be social and have fun.....she is a kid, after all.
Temper, termper, t clements. It's not nice to call people names. Jesus won't let you into heaven if you keep this up.
Finally, a young achiever who isn't Indian, Asian, or Hispanic. Of course, I was a champion speller myself in my youth, but I soon found out that it wasn't a very marketable skill. Anyway, congratulations to America's own Lori Anne Madison.
NooYawkah: I believe the correct ispelling is NooYawkuh.
Non-white does not equal un-American. And her mom has a VERY Romanian name, so the Indian and Asian achievers you're so quick to put down may just have more American roots than this girl.
The past winners were also Americans. FYI, they have started letting non-whites be citizens now.
Okay, have to comment because so many are arguing that she is spending too much time on this. She is homeschooled, and 6 years old. That means her daily schoolwork is probably completed fairly quickly, as one on one tutoring is just – well – faster than teaching the same concepts in a classroom situation. My guess is that they probably spend two or three hours a day on regular schoolwork, interspersed with play time, etc. Then, as this is something the little girl enjoys, they probably drill and play spelling games for another hour a day – much like someone might practice piano for an hour or so a day. Sooooo many assumptions! Having been in homeschool communities and support groups for 23 years now (working that last kid through high school!), I have seen this with prodigies of all sorts. I don't know this family personally, but in my experience she probably also spends tons of time just doing "kid" things, being in sports, taking classes with others, and following her interests. Percentage wise, studies show adults who were homeschooled are great citizens, and contribute to their communities. I think we all need not worry about Lori Anne.
This is great! Congratulations to the girl.
What the mom needs is access to the consolidated word list that has a list of about 24K words.
Jack, yes homeschooled children really do miss out on a lot of things: bullying, shootings, stabbings, threats of violence and lockdowns! Let's give credit where credit is due. Way to go, Lori Anne! Keep up the good work, Mom!
Not to meniton lice, flu bugs and tons of germs from their little friends.
Nerd. N-E-R-D. Nerd.
"couch"
Jokester: Can I get that in a sentence?
"Couch. What you sit on all day while leaving useless posts on CNN. Couch".
Did you have to use the dictionary to spell that?
In a sentence? You got it. Dr. K's child may wear funny clothes and have no friends but Dr. K loves the little nerd anyway.
LOL. Enjoy your minimum wage life. My child pwns yours.
Is his WoW avatar also a nerd?
She is homeschooled. As per Liberal Media Darling Bill Maher thinks that Home Schooling is like sending Kids to Madrasa. Why is Libral Media quite on Maher?
When you are home-schooled by Christian fundamentalists. Maher was talking about people like you – too stupid to even understand what he's trying to say. Let alone be able to argue about it intelligently.
Yes, I'm sure she's white, Christian AND Conservative. What is WRONG with you people? This is a story about a little girl that spells really well. Honestly!
I bean home skooled and I ain't christen.
WoW, caring and compassionate Liberals "hatin" on a white, home schooled, chirstian girl imagine that... Oh and you D@mn racist, biggoted, uneducated, redneck, hillbilly, Tea baggers stop calling people names because only racist, biggoted, uneducated, redneck, hillbilly, Tea baggers call people names.
I'm sure what really p!sses the Liberals off is that this girl is probably not only white, christian and home schooled but she's also from the south.
Huh. I thought it was a Republican that said wanting people to have a good education was equivalent to being a snob. So stow the false indignation.
Republicans. Can't even keep up with their own misguided rhetoric.
PW County is a DC suburb and is anything but the south! Here's a quick Wiki description.
Prince William County is a county located on the Potomac River in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States, and is part of the Washington Metropolitan Area. As of the 2010 United States Census, Prince William County had a population of 402,002.[1]. Its county seat is the independent city of Manassas[2]. It is part of Northern Virginia and is one of the highest-income counties in the United States.
Republicans always seem to win the vote around here, but I think we are much more liberal. I guess the liberals don't vote much. Who knows.
I re-read the article. I didn't see anywhere it gave the political or religious views of the family. So, all this talk of such is just speculation. She is just a very good speller. She worked hard to get to where she is in the spelling bee. That is all.
I am homeschooling my kids and am a muslim
tic-tic-tic-tic...BOOM
The comments here.