Mildward succeeds at national bee

MARK BOWEN/SCRIPPS NATIONAL SPELLING BEE
Maryville Middle School student Hayden Mildward competed in the Scripps National Spelling Bee last month. He and his parents spent the entire week in Washington, D.C. Mildward tied for 50th in the competition.

It was a dream come true for Hayden Mildward. He had worked hard for years to make it to the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C. Last week, he lived out his dream. He spent a week in D.C. traveling to a cornucopia of historical landmarks with his parents and also stood nearly 15-feet away from his role model, Jacques Bailey, the 1980 Scripps National Spelling Bee winner and the official pronouncer for the Bee.

“It was a lot of fun,” Midlward said. “It was an awesome week. I was able to compete with 284 other students and this was my final time being able to compete.”

For a teenager from a town of less than 12,000 people, it can be a little overwhelming living in D.C. for a week. Mildward had the opportunity to meet and talk with other students from around the country and the world.

When it came time for the actual competition, Mildward had to buckle down and concentrate on competing. On his third day in D.C., Tuesday, May 26, Mildward had to complete the preliminary test before the actual competition began on Wednesday. However, Mildward felt pretty confident heading into the preliminaries and for an individual that has worked on spelling his entire life, it’s no wonder he was at ease.

“I didn’t really care about nerves,” Mildward said. “I felt pretty calm, I didn’t worry about anything and I just took the test. It was about experience.”

Mildward was speller No. 139 in the competition and he breezed through the second round of the competition. He spelled the word prosaic correctly, but round three would proved to be tougher for Mildward.

“The round three words were a little bit more complex,” Mildward said. “They were a little bit out of my range.”

The fast-paced, high-pressure situation of the third round didn’t stop Mildward. He was able to correctly spell Devaloka, which in Indian religions means a plane of existence where gods and devas exist.

After round three, the results of the preliminary test came into play. Mildward’s run in the Bee would come to an end, as his tests results were not high enough to put him into the final round, although, he was impressed with how well he did on the vocabulary portion of the test.

“I was confident in the spelling portion of the test, but I didn’t think I did well on the vocabulary,” Mildward said. “But I was wrong. I ended up doing fairly well in the vocabulary section, I was surprised.”

Even though he didn’t make it to the semifinals, he tied for 50th in the competition and his week wasn’t over. He was able to watch the finals of the Bee and witness two Midwest students — Vanya Shivaskankar, 13, from Olathe, Kansas and Gokul Venkatachalam, 14, from St. Louis, Missouri — become co-champions.

This was the second year in a row that the Bee had co-champions and while some may think a co-champion isn’t fair, Mildward believes that it gives more students an opportunity.

Before he left Washington, D.C., he visited The National Archives, the Smithsonian Institute and the Library of Congress.

Throughout the entire run to D.C., Mildward had the support of his friends and family. He is very grateful for the support he has received.

“All the support amazes, I am very grateful for everyone’s support, it truly means a lot,” Mildward said.