Ruston student competes at National Spelling Bee

Thirteen-year-old Devika Dua steps to the microphone at the Scripps National Spelling Bee and gives a nervous smile to the pronouncer.

“Synusia,” the pronouncer intones.

A look of concentration crosses her face as Dua, of Ruston, begins the usual information-seeking questions: first definition, then language of origin. Something clicks into place in the Cedar Creek School student’s sharp mind.

“Is this from the Greek prefix ‘syn,’ meaning ‘together’?” she asks.

It is. Her suspicion confirmed, the gears continue to turn. She asks for alternate pronunciations. There are four.

“S-Y-N-U-S-I-A,” she says, correctly.

That was during Preliminary Round 2 of the national bee Tuesday.

“Before my word, I felt very nervous,” Dua said. “But when I got on the stage, the pronouncer seemed very nice, and when I finished my word and heard that it was correct, I felt very relaxed.”

Dua, who finished eighth grade this spring, was one of the six Louisiana students to make it to the National Spelling Bee in National Harbor, Maryland. She joined 562 other students ages 15 and under in the preliminaries, starting with a written test in the first round. In the next two oral rounds, streamed live by ESPN, she spelled both her words correctly, along with 368 others.

But that field had to be cut to 50 for the finals on Thursday, based on the results of the written test. Though she never spelled a word wrong on stage, Dua fell just short of the finals.

Even so, Dua’s father, Sumeet Dua, said her coming so far was an unbelievable achievement.

“I believe the journey is the reward here,” he said. “How she got there, and all the work she had to put into it, is the most important outcome. We are so glad she was able to capitalize on her potential to get to this point.”

That journey included winning the spelling bee at Cedar Creek for the fifth year in a row, applying to and being accepted by the RSVBEE invitation program, and studying for nationals for hours on end.

“Toward the end I was learning about 500 words a day,” Devika said. “I started to sacrifice a lot of social events and everything because I just wanted to do my best. So whenever I got to (nationals), I relaxed a little bit and started to make friends there.”

That studying doesn’t mean trying to memorize as much of the dictionary as possible. It’s much more strategic.

“Memorization absolutely does not work,” she said. “There are many different languages of origin, and you have to learn the words of each one: French, Italian, German, Latin and Greek. They have so many rules and exceptions, but once you practice the words that go with those rules, you learn how to spell the different consonants and vowels, and you can spell almost any word.”

Her Round 3 word, “cultigen,” includes a sound in the last syllable that is often the hardest for spellers to discern. The “schwa” sound, like the “uh” in “butter,” can be spelled with several different vowels.

So this young student simply breaks it down.

“‘Gen’ comes from the Greek suffix meaning ‘birth,’ Devika explained. “To get the vowel right, I asked for the root, and I could also tell from the definition. Having all that information is really necessary.”

In addition to casually deconstructing obscure words, Devika is working on a non-profit organization concept called Thought4Food, which would rescue leftover food from local restaurants to feed the homeless.

Devika said the confidence she found while on stage is something she won’t soon forget.

“My favorite part of the competition was realizing the capability I have to actually get up on stage and spell in front of a huge audience with so much media, all the cameras clicking,” she said. “I was surprised I could actually be confident enough to get up there and get the word right.”

Her mother, Prerna Dua, was even more impressed by her daughter’s performance on the grand stage.

“We were very proud of her because I know she has put an enormous amount of time working on this, and this competition was very close to her heart,” she said. “She learned how to work hard and get this far.”

All three Duas spoke of the outpouring of support from the Cedar Creek and Ruston communities that propelled Devika to make it so far.

“It’s been extremely encouraging and inspiring,” Sumeet Dua said. “We didn’t expect so many people, friends of our friends of our friends, to be messaging us in real time and telling us how proud they feel of someone from Ruston being here. But it doesn’t really surprise us, because Ruston is really like a small family. It really makes us feel special and welcome.”