Karelyn Malliet was expecting the word that would get her a third regional spelling bee victory would be challenging, like “subpoena” or “pneumatic.”
The last thing she expected was “easel.”
However, “easel” was the word that allowed the eighth-grade student from Shawano Community Middle School to win the CESA 8 Regional Spelling Bee on Monday in Clintonville, beating out five other competitors for the title of top speller. That, coupled with the word “loquacious” in the 17th round, will allow Malliet to go to the Wisconsin spelling bee for the third year in a row.
The word “easel” came after Emma Zwirschitz, a seventh-grade student from St. Martin Lutheran School, misspelled “appurtenances,” which means an accessory or adjunct that is attached and incidental to something that has greater importance or value, after going several rounds with Malliet after the other competitors dropped out.
Malliet said after the bee that she was excited to win again, but she was expecting a harder word along the lines of “zeitgeist,” which she spelled in round 12, or “Machiavellian,” which came in the 16th round.
“When the other person got out, I was like ‘Give me a hard word. Give me a hard word,’ because I finally wanted to have something that was slightly difficult,” Malliet said. “Then it turns out to be ‘easel,’ and I’m like, ‘Are you kidding me?’”
Craig Ferch, the coordinator for Shawano’s spelling bee, was thrown by the final word, too.
“I was wondering if this was a kindergarten bee,” Ferch said with a chuckle.
Malliet wasn’t surprised that, despite the simplicity of her final word, Zwirschitz stayed toe-to-toe with her for several rounds, not showing much hesitation.
“She seemed to know the words,” Malliet said.
Malliet has won Shawano’s spelling bee for the last four years and the regional for three years. She won the state title last year and represented Wisconsin in the national spelling bee. Her goal there was to make the semifinals, but she bowed out after coming up one point short in the vocabulary test.
Malliet said she wasn’t sure what her goal would be this year, although she hoped to make it to the national bee again.
Despite her success, Malliet said she doesn’t worry about getting overconfident and stumbling at the lower levels.
“I don’t get overconfident when I’m up there,” she said. “When I’m up there, I get a little nervous and I make sure I spell really slow, or else I spell too fast, and they might not understand what I’m saying or I might just throw in a random letter. I do not want to do that.”
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