Regional spelling bee winner hopes to ward off butterflies

Mariel Andersen isn’t expecting to win the Scripps National Spelling Bee. She just really, really wants to survive the first round.

“I might do well. I might not. It all depends on the words they give me,” said Mariel, a 13-year-old Burley Middle School student. “What I’m worried about is that I’m going to get some insanely complicated word at the very beginning.”

Mariel took the top spot out of 28 contestants in the Charlottesville region’s spelling bee in March. Her winning word was “aplomb.”

Starting today, she will be among the nation’s 288 sharpest spellers all jockeying to win the National Spelling Bee in Washington.

Mariel can expect trickier words at the national contest, which culminates Friday with the final round of competition. In last year’s finals, “serrefine” was the winning word. The previous year it was “Ursprache” and the year before it was “appoggiatura.”

“There are some really arcane words that they sling at these kids,” said Elizabeth Andersen, Mariel’s mother. “Who knows these words? Nobody!”

Unlike some of the more hardcore spellers who tend to populate the ranks of the national bee’s final round, Mariel hasn’t been pushed by her parents to study terribly much.

“Our approach has been pretty laissez-faire about the whole thing,” Elizabeth Andersen said. “I tell her, ‘We’re going there. You’re going to do the best you can. We’re going to have a good time. I’m not expecting you to win. I’m expecting you to do your best.’”

Mariel has somewhat mixed feelings about her participation in the national bee. While she is excited about the opportunity, she also is annoyed that she might miss her eighth-grade formal dance Friday night.

She added that she has not had much free time to study for the competition, though she routinely practices via a few Web sites that offer study guides and tips and list obscure words that might arise in the bee.

“I have too much stuff to do,” Mariel said. “Between my social life and school, I haven’t had much time to study.”

Mariel’s voracious reading habit is her secret weapon. In addition to the standard teen favorites such as “Gossip Girl,” she is a fan of Jane Austen, Shakespeare and Steinbeck. She recently finished Naomi Wolf’s “The Beauty Myth.”

“We’re banking on her love of language,” her mother said.

Mariel’s friends intend to watch her compete on television.

“She’s beastly awesome. Heck, yeah,” said Kali Gille, a friend and classmate at Burley. “I’m jealous of her smart spelling ability.”

The National Spelling Bee’s quarterfinals will air live on ESPN360.com from 2 to 5:30 p.m. Thursday. The semifinals will be shown on ESPN from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Friday. And the championship finals will be shown from 8 to 10 p.m. Friday on ABC.

Whether she gets knocked out early or makes it to the finals, Mariel will probably not be crushed, Elizabeth Andersen said.

“This is not the be-all and end-all for her,” she said. “She’s a well-rounded kid. She’s got a great network of friends.”

In addition to competing in spelling bees, Mariel is a member of her school’s elite choral group the Bearettes and was a news anchor and tech crewmember of the school’s televised WBMS daily announcements.

“I won’t be nervous [at the spelling bee],” she said. “I’m used to standing up and performing in front of people.”

Mariel’s 12-year-old brother, Buddy, a sixth-grader at Burley who placed second behind his sister at their school’s spelling bee, said he is proud of his older sister and knows she’ll do great.

“If I were her, I would have to study to win,” he said. “She doesn’t need to.”