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What? No Spelling Bee? One Of Idaho's Best S-P-E-L-L-E-R-S Visits Morning Edition

Yang Lu

When schools went dark in the shadow of COVID-19, one of the school year’s highlights – the National Spelling Bee – was cancelled.  But just before students were sent home to shelter-in-place with their parents, a number of local schools held their own spelling contests.

JiaXin Sophia Lu, a fourth grader, was the youngest and, ultimately, the best speller at Riverside Elementary School in Boise this year. JiaXin and her parents, Yang and Kai, visited with Morning Edition host George Prentice to talk about how much she misses her classmates and teacher. JiaXin and George also participate in a mini-spelling bee. Take a guess who wins.

“I miss my classmates and mostly, my teacher Mrs. Slyter.”

Read the full transcript below:

GEORGE PRENTICE: It's Morning Edition on Boise State Public Radio News. Good morning, I'm George Prentice.

Schools in Idaho, and just about every school across the US, remain closed this morning due to the COVID-19 pandemic. One of the many things put to the side was the National Spelling Bee, but many elementary schools were fortunate to have their own spelling bees completed before classes had been suspended by the pandemic. So this morning, we are fortunate to spend some time with one of Idaho's best spellers. Her name is JiaXin Lu. She is a fourth grader at Riverside Elementary School in Boise, and this morning she joins us via Zoom with her parents, Dr. Yang Lu and her mother, Kai Lu. Good morning to you all.

JIAXIN SOPHIA LU: Good morning.

YANG LU: Good morning, George.

KAI LU: Good morning, George.

PRENTICE: JiaXin, what has it been like to be away from school for an extended period of time? I have to assume that you miss your classmates and your teacher.

JIAXIN SOPHIA LU: It's been very boring because both of my parents work from home. I have no one to play with, but I do homework such as math, reading comprehension, geography, science and reading. And I miss my classmates and mostly, my teacher Ms. Slyter. And I sent her an email to Ms. Slyter that I miss her very much.

PRENTICE: Yang and Kai, tell me about this young lady, she seems rather extraordinary.

KAI LU: Well, in our eyes she is our little sweetie. She brings us laughter and smiles almost every day. She always takes good care of other's feelings, so she's very sweet and gentle. When she told me about the spelling bee, she told me that she really wanted to win because she wanted to show that even a fourth grader can win the school's spelling bee. So we are really proud of her. And she takes a ballet class and a swimming class. So she's quite good at butterfly and the free style.

PRENTICE: Oh my goodness.

YANG LU: Great. So yeah, in my eyes, my daughter is always a straight A student. But apart from the studying, we also enjoy a lot of great time at home. For example, during this self-quarantine times, we played a lot of ping pong games as well as the PS4 games at home. Yeah, we use our PS4 consoles so she can pick up for all the new games and the new plays immediately. So we enjoy a lot of home games.

PRENTICE: Wow. JiaXin, let's talk about the spelling contest. Were there students from different grades participating?

JIAXIN SOPHIA LU: Yeah. Fourth, fifth and sixth graders could participate in the school spelling bee.

PRENTICE: And again, you're in fourth grade, right?

JIAXIN SOPHIA LU: Yes.

PRENTICE: Can I assume that you were one of the younger spellers?

JIAXIN SOPHIA LU: I was the youngest.

PRENTICE: You were? How many rounds were there on the spelling bee?

JIAXIN SOPHIA LU: At least three because at the end I was against a fifth grader named Luke, and we went round after round until he got a word wrong.

PRENTICE: Okay, so what was the winning word?

JIAXIN SOPHIA LU: The winning word was by bisite.

PRENTICE: Okay, and spell that.

JIAXIN SOPHIA LU: B-I-S-I-T-E.

PRENTICE: Do you know what that means?

JIAXIN SOPHIA LU: I think it meant like a woman's cloak or something.

PRENTICE: Okay. So are you ready? I don't want to surprise you too much, but I have some words I would like to try on you. So we're going to have a mini spelling bee, a mini contest here. Okay?

JIAXIN SOPHIA LU: Okay.

PRENTICE: So I'm going to give you a word to spell. See if you can spell this word: Xylophone.

JIAXIN SOPHIA LU: Okay.

PRENTICE: Do you know how to spell xylophone? It's a musical instrument.

JIAXIN SOPHIA LU: X-Y-L ...

PRENTICE: That's right.

YANG LU: Hello? Can you pronounce it again?

PRENTICE: Yes. Xylophone. And you are absolutely right so far. So X-Y-L...

JIAXIN SOPHIA LU: Okay. X-Y-L-O-P-H-O-N-E?

PRENTICE: Excellent. Okay. Do you have a word for me?

JIAXIN SOPHIA LU: Yeah. Triglyceride.

PRENTICE: Oh, my gosh. Triglyceride. Oh my. Let me try. Triglyceride. T-R-Y-G... Lisser. L-I, let's see. C-E-R-I-D-E?

JIAXIN SOPHIA LU: That was incorrect. It's actually T-R-I.

PRENTICE: All right. Well, okay, so I have another word for you then. How about intelligent? Intelligent. You are intelligent.

JIAXIN SOPHIA LU: Okay. I-N-T-E-L-L-I-G-E-N-T.

PRENTICE: That's exactly right. Okay. I need to salvage my reputation here. Give me another word.

JIAXIN SOPHIA LU: Labyrinthine.

PRENTICE: What? What word was that?

JIAXIN SOPHIA LU: Labyrinthine.

PRENTICE: Labyrinthine?

JIAXIN SOPHIA LU: Yeah.

PRENTICE: Okay. Let me try. L-A-B-R-Y-N-T-H-I-N-E?

JIAXIN SOPHIA LU: That was incorrect.

PRENTICE: Of course it was.

JIAXIN SOPHIA LU: It was actually L-A-B-Y-R-I-N-T-H-I-N-E.

PRENTICE: Oh, those E’s and I;s. You are a champ in every word. And she is JiaXin Lou with her parents, Yang and Kai. Best of luck to you all. Stay healthy. We'll all step out into the sunshine together someday soon. I look forward to meeting you in person. Thank you so very, very much.

JIAXIN SOPHIA LU: Thank you.

KAI LU: Thank you very much for the interview.

YANG LU: Thank you for your time, George. We really enjoyed talking with you.

Find reporter George Prentice on Twitter @georgepren

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