‘I am going to try again next year’: 7-year-old makes it to third round of spelling bee
She sat back in her chair, her legs dangling because her feet didn’t reach the floor. Her pigtails were tied with bumblebee black and yellow ribbon, which matched her yellow dress and shoes. She had to drop the microphone as low as it would go, so she could be heard.
Judie ElAttar, who just turned 7, was the youngest competitor in this year’s Miami Herald Spelling Bee competition.
The David Fairchild Elementary first-grader was one of 24 Miami-Dade/Monroe students who competed Thursday at the Charles F. Dodge City Center in Pembroke Pines. There were three 10-year-olds; the rest of the students were from 11 to 14.
Judie, who played with her spelling number around her neck, made it to the third round, but misspelled collegiality. She sailed through the words shoulder and obscure.
“I am going to try again next year,” said Judie, after the competition. “And I am going to be the top.”
Judie’s mom, Amira Gewaifel, entered her daughter in the David Fairchild spelling bee to practice being in front of people. She bested fourth- and fifth-graders to win the school’s bee. Her mother never expected that her daughter — who didn’t begin speaking until she was 4 — would make it that far.
“I am on cloud 1,000,” she said. “To see her confidence in front of the microphone and that she wasn’t even intimidated by the other kids, some of them three times her size, I couldn’t be happier.”
Mark Schermeister, who has been involved in spelling bees for decades, said he loves seeing young children competing.
“It looks to me like she has a bright future,” he said.
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This story was originally published March 17, 2022 at 8:05 PM.
