Dakota and the Bee, Part One

Thirteen-year-old Dakota Jones took the stage for the first time this morning in Washington as Nevada's contestant in the Scripps National Spelling Bee.

Dakota, a seventh-grader at Hyde Park Middle School in Las Vegas, correctly spelled "cortisone," the steroid hormone.  As permitted by the rules, Jones first asked for its definition and then asked for the word to be used in a sentence before methodically spelling it out.

Wearing a placard as Speller No 143 and dressed in brown slacks and a striped pullover, he exhaled as he walked back to his seat on the ballroom stage at the Grand Hyatt hotel.

Dakota will get another word to spell this afternoon. He then will learn shortly afterward whether he will advance to the semifinals and final rounds of the contest, which will be held tomorrow and broadcast in the morning on ESPN and in prime time on ABC-TV.

Dakota, who is a Boy Scout, plays viola and piano and is strong in math, is one of 273 contestants this year. It is the largest number of spellers in the bee's 83 years.

The way the bee works, spellers were given a 50-word written test yesterday, and then get to spell two words during today's preliminary rounds. Judges will combine the written and oral scores to determine no more than 50 finalists who get to move on to the semifinals.

So Dakota and his parents, Mike and Jamie, should know this evening whether he will advance.  His three sisters are at home, but presumably will be watching television tomorrow if he makes it to the final rounds.

The Nevada contestant is sponsored by the Las Vegas Review-Journal.