By Jerry Burke
Last Friday, 13-year-old Goldstein, a member of West Hempstead's most prolific spelling family, tied for third place along with two other spellers in this year's Scripps-Howard National Spelling Bee.
Goldstein, contestant number 17, sailed through the first 10 rounds of the contest, including a 25-word written test in the second round. Her word list, according to her mother, Mona, was a tough one. "She got some crazy words," said Mona. "Crazy, crazy words." Mrs. Goldstein's assessment is hard to argue, as the list included such uncommon words as klendusity, arundinaceous and rangiferine, randomly pulled for her daughter.
Goldstein was finally stumped in the 11th round by "betony," a purple-colored woodland plant once used in ancient medicine, spelling it "bettany." Thirteen-year-old Sai Gunturi of Dallas won the competition, correctly spelling "pococurante," which means indifferent or apathetic, in the 15th round.
According to the bee's website, Goldstein will take home $2,250 in cash for her great run.
This was the third time in four years that Goldstein has taken part in the contest, having tied for seventh place in 2000 and tied for third last year.
In March, she won the Long Island Championship Spelling Bee, which qualified her to go to Washington D.C. on May 28-29 for the 76th annual National Bee. The bee, the top nationally recognized contest of spelling ability, was broadcast live on ESPN.
The spelling bee is the nation's longest-running educational promotion. It is administered on a non-profit basis out of Cincinnati by the E.W. Scripps Company. More than 200 sponsors, comprising daily and weekly newspapers serving English-speaking populations in the U.S., Europe, Guam, Mexico, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, the Bahamas and American Samoa, hold local spelling bees in their communities. Winners of regional contests advance to the national finals, in which 251 spellers participated this year.
The purpose of the contest is "to help students improve their spelling, increase their vocabularies, learn concepts and develop correct English usage."
Goldstein, an eighth-grader, is home schooled through the Long Island Growing Home Together (LIGHT) program. She is a member of a competitive diving team and hopes to become an Olympic athlete. She has participated in a university talent search four times, earning recognition for her high SAT scores.
Spelling seems to run in the family. Two years ago, her brother Ari won the Long Island bee and tied for 16th place in the nationals. In 1998, their sister Amy, now 19, also went to the national bee in Washington, and tied for fourth place. And the Goldsteins aren't done yet: youngest sister Amanda, 9, is preparing to take up her family's spelling mantle.
