Mateo Hernandez, a Sleeping Giant Middle School sixth-grader who recently won the Park County Spelling Bee, scored second place in the 58th Treasure State Spelling Bee in Bozeman Saturday.
The contest brought in about 53 students from 250 schools in Montana, ranging from fourth to eighth grade.
”I’m really excited,” Mateo said Thursday morning of his accomplishment.
The word that led Mateo to second place was “yuzu,” which is defined as a citrus fruit from East Asia. Mateo said he had never heard this word before so he just went for it.
“This is first time we have ever participated in anything like this,” Mateo’s mother, Mary DuVernay, said. “We found out about it when he came home and told us he was gonna be in the first one, at the Shane Center. I was impressed to see how well my 11-year-old stayed so calm and cool on stage with the mic. I was really impressed with all the kids; they were all very good at spelling and had traveled from all over the state to do this together. We knew he was a good at spelling, but during the Spelling Bee he spelled words I had never even heard before and words he said he had never heard.”
Mateo said that he received several gift cards for local eateries and also $600 cash, a T-shirt, a medal and a small trophy.
Mateo said he enjoys reading fantasies and historical fiction books. He attributed these genres to how he has learned the spelling of some less commonly used words.
Asked if he would be participating again next year, he replied, “Yes.”
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