Las Vegas student spells V-I-C-T-O-R-Y at state bee

The word was "monogamous."

Tussah Heera knew how to spell it. And it was much easier than the word that got her to this point: "erythromycin." (It's an antibiotic.)

The 13-year-old stood at the microphone at Faith Lutheran Junior-Senior High School and faced the judges on the end of the stage. She asked for the definition (marrying one person at a time, or having only one mate). She pretended to type it on her legs.

"Monogamous. M-O-N-O-G-A-M-O-U-S."

Kendall Tenney, the pronouncer and KVBC-TV, Channel 3 anchor, smiled. She had gotten it. Before he could finish congratulating her, Tussah spun around to face the audience and jumped, her arms raised.

"Yay!"

Tussah, a home-schooled eighth-grader from Las Vegas, bested 36 other Nevada middle-school students on Saturday in the Nevada State Spelling Bee, sponsored by the Review-Journal. "Monogamous" launched her to the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, where she will represent Nevada in May.

The national bee has become so big that ESPN televises it. Last year's representative, 13-year-old Cheyenne K. Lawrence of Silver Springs, signed autographs for fans.

Seeing youngsters spell, or try to spell, words that many people have never heard before makes for good viewing. In the final round of eight on Saturday, words such as "concatenate" (meaning linked together), "defalcator" (someone who embezzles), and "foraminate" (pierced or perforated) stumped the other contestants.

A pronouncer read a different word to each contestant, and they were allowed to ask for its origin, its definition and for it to be used in a sentence.

When Tussah received "erythromycin" she learned its definition and that it was derived from Greek.

But the biggest help for her was that she knew the word "erythro," a Greek word for "red." "I had to guess," she confessed.

She's not nervous about being on television or the national stage. She's nervous about the words she'll face.

To study between now and May 26, she's going to rip out each letter section of the latest edition of the Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, the bee's official dictionary, and go through each section word by word.

Her mother, 44-year-old Priti Shah, can just shake her head and laugh. "It's too much work," she said.

Contact reporter Lawrence Mower at lmower@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0440.