Shadow Oaks Elementary fifth-grader Amna Naqvi, district Spelling Bee winner, poses with, from left, Hunters Creek Elementary coach and parent Roberta Smiley, campus literacy coach Julie Weishar and Amna's fifth-grade teacher, Kerry Cashiola.

For Shadow Oaks Elementary fifth-grader Amna Naqvi, correctly spelling “hippopotamus” after more than a dozen rounds won her the 2008 SBISD Spelling Bee winner’s title, as well as a place in the March 26 Houston Chronicle Spelling Bee. The Spelling Bee attracted 51 students from 40 Texas counties.

Amna tied for 25th place overall in the regional event. She received a gift bag that includes a reading light, a commemorative pen, and a clock with timer. She will hold the title as SBISD’s top speller until next spring.

“It was a great learning experience for Amna. For her first time at the regional event, she did wonderfully,” said Shadow Oaks Elementary’s Julie Weishar. A language arts/social studies school improvement specialist, she coached Amna and other students on the elementary campus.

The only daughter of Pakistani immigrants, Amna spells exceedingly well and aims even higher. “I want to be a doctor, but I’m really not sure what kind. I really want to go to college,” the young Gifted & Talented student said.

“I’ve always been pretty good at spelling, but I’m getting better and better. I love to read, and I think that helps me,” Amna adds.

In preparation for this week’s regional Spelling Bee, Amna’s support network included fellow students, teachers, Mrs. Weishar, and even a former Hunters Creek Elementary parent who competed in the 1971 National Spelling Bee, Roberta Smiley. 

Spelling Bee winner Amna Naqvi with parents Hasan and Yasmeen Anwar

With her Mom and Dad, Yasmeen and Hasan Anwar, standing nearby at the school, Amna received a banner from the entire fifth grade and a Honey Bee balloon as she departed Wednesday. School Principal Julie Baggerly led students in a round of applause as a campus tribute to Amna.

Yasmeen and Hasan Anwar are as proud as two parents of a bright Gifted and Talented student might be. “We do not pressure her, but she has a very good memory and I always tell her, ‘Go to the Spelling Bee.’ This year, Amna participated and she was first,” Mr. Anwar said.

“I was excited for her,” Mrs. Anwar recalls of her first reaction to hearing that Amna was the last student left standing during the district Spelling Bee. “I always told her, ‘Amna, you can do it! You are very smart. You can do it.’ She works hard.”

“I wish that I had 20 students like Amna,” fifth-grade teacher Kerry Cashiola said of the quiet, determined top speller who has an excellent visual memory. “When she came back from the district’s Spelling Bee, everyone in the classroom was clapping for her. From that moment on, the entire classroom took ownership of what she had done. All of the students are very proud of her, and I am, too.”

Under campus specialist Julie Weishar’s direction, Amna joined a small group of students earlier this year who practiced, studied and drilled spelling words using the Scripps National Spelling Bee’s official Spell It! study guide. After winning the district’s title, Roberta Smiley came to Shadow Oaks several times a week to coach Amna before the regional competition.

A longtime campus and district Spelling Bee booster, Roberta finished 40th out of 77 students in the 1971 National Spelling Bee. She is the parent of three Hunters Creek graduates. With the help of Hunters Creek parents and staff, Smiley created computer-based spreadsheets and databases that have helped students at both the school and regional bee level.

She has also established a "Wonderful World of Words" Club, through which Hunters Creek students learn how to identify and spell words having Greek, Lation or Old English derivations. These word origins account for close to 90 percent of the words in modern English.

"Knowing even a little about Latin and Greek roots, prefixes and suffixes helps students not only to spell better, but helps their vocabulary," Smiley said. "It comes in very handy for college entrance exams, too."  

With her help, Hunters Creek Elementary students have have typically done well at the district Spelling Bee. For example, this year's district runner-up, Jordan Kreindler, and fourth-place finisher, Carrie Ustick, are both Hunters Creek fourth-graders. Last year, five of the final six student spellers left standing at the Spring Branch Middle School Bee were Hunters Creek graduates that Roberta had coached during one year or another.

Spring Branch Middle winner Jacquelyn Tarics, a sixth-grader who finished tied for 4th place at the district bee this year, was a two-time Spelling Bee winner at Hunters Creek in fourth and fifth grades.  

Roberta has offered to coach students who win district titles for the past six years. “It was really outstanding to find a parent from another school offer to work with Amna three times a week,” Shadow Oaks’s Kerry Cashiola said.

For Roberta, the Spelling Bee experience is about more than words correctly spelled. Competition helps the young set personal goals, form study habits, think on their feet in a public setting, and learn the lessons of persistence, hard work and fun moments. She hopes that more SBISD schools would take part in the program, which has few start-up or operating costs.

“I’d love to see all the Spring Branch schools participating. That’s my dream,” she said.

The 2008 SBISD Spelling Bee was sponsored and coordinated by the district’s Advanced Academic Studies Department, which is directed by Lynette Breedlove.

2008 Houston Chronicle Spelling Bee School Winners

In addition to Amna Naqvi and Jordan Kreindler, the following SBISD students were named Spelling Bee winners:

• Mary Ann Quinones, Spring Oaks Middle
• Sophia Huq, Frostwood Elementary
• Vannessa Silvas, Ridgecrest Elementary
• Christopher Call, Pine Shadows Elementary
• Elizabeth Jaramillo, Cedar Brook Elementary
• Elizabeth Doykan, Bunker Hill Elementary
• Tiphanie Brandenburg, Westwood Elementary
• Zeriba Jahangir, Spring Forest Middle
• David Pham, Westchester Academy of International Studies
• Jacquelyn Tarics, Spring Branch Middle

posted 03-28-08