He didn’t know how to spell his word, so he just sounded it and won Broward Spelling Bee
Brody Santos wasn’t sure how to spell the final word he was asked to spell.
So, the 12-year-old “just focused and sounded it out,’’ he said:
“Coterie. C-O-T-E-R-I-E.”
His process worked. The seventh-grader from St. Mark’s Episcopal School in Fort Lauderdale on Thursday took home first place after spelling the word correctly at the 82nd Annual Miami Herald Broward County Spelling Bee, held at the Charles F. Dodge City Center in Pembroke Pines.
Brody and 24 other Broward County students participated in the event. Elementary and middle school students from public schools, charter schools, private schools and students who are home schooled and within grades first through eighth are eligible to participate.
The Miami-Dade/Monroe Spelling Bee was held Thursday morning.
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Brody and Juan Cristóbal Rondeau, the 13-year-old seventh-grader from Westminster Christian who won the the Miami-Dade/Monroe competition, will represent their schools at the 2022 Scripps National Spelling Bee, which will be the week of Memorial Day at Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland. The finals will be broadcast live on ION on June 2.
Muriel Ocampo-Hartmann, 10, a fourth-grader at Nova Dwight D. Eisenhower Elementary in Davie, won second place. Delilah Gordon, 13, an Indian Ridge Middle School seventh-grader came in third. Indian Ridge also is in Davie.
Read More: 7-year-old makes it to third round of spelling bee
Narrowed list to 25 finalists
Before the students arrived on Thursday, each had to win their school competition.
This year, the first round of the competition was held virtually on Feb. 25.
In Broward County, 49 students participated in the first round, said Juliana Echavarria, operations and special projects manager of the Miami Herald, el Nuevo Herald and the Bradenton Herald.
That list was narrowed down to the top 25. Spellers were given a list of 4,000 words to study.
In Thursday’s Bee, there were two 9-year-olds and five 10-year-olds; the rest of the students were from ages 11 to 14.
The final rounds
The competition began with Dana Banker, senior managing editor of the Miami Herald, el Nuevo Herald and Bradenton Herald, speaking directly to the participants.
“No matter what happens, you all are all champions,” she told them, adding the past year has been difficult, with a lot of uncertainty. “You all should be very proud.”
No matter what career the students choose later in life, she added, their language and communication skills will be “a huge asset.”
The final six rounds of the competition went back and forth between Brody and Muriel, each spelling their assigned word correctly.
During one round, though, Muriel misspelled her word — sapphire — and Brody spelled his word — cerebellum — correctly. At that point, he needed to spell a second word correctly. He missed the word froufrou and the cycle began again.
After a few more rounds, the same scenario played out. Muriel missed her first word, ablaut. This time, however, Brody spelled his first word — ronin — and his second word — the winning word, coterie — correctly.
Just after the event, Brody stood to the side of the stage with his parents, Anderson and Michelle Santos, who said he’d been studying a lot. They were going to celebrate with family dinner Thursday evening.
Brody, who also plays the drums, had a big smile on his face. When asked how it felt to come in first place, he said: “It’s really amazing.”
This story was originally published March 17, 2022 at 6:32 PM.
