Sophomore Cameron Miller Wins the 2016 Newton South Spelling Bee

By Chloe Frantzis and Lucy Kim
News Reporters

“Montage, M-O-N-T-A-G-E, montage.” These were the words of sophomore Cameron Miller in the Seasholes auditorium on Jan. 8 as he became the 2016 Newton South Spelling Bee champion.

Miller explains that he was not expecting to win this school-wide competition that takes place in the winter of each year. Nevertheless, he feels his ability to memorize the spelling of words was ultimately responsible for the victory.

“I didn’t know that I was going to win but I felt good,” Miller said. “I can remember words pretty well. If I see a word, I can usually know the spelling of it.”

English teacher Jeremiah Hill organized this year’s spelling bee, including compiling the list of words and conducting the semi-final and the final rounds.

“I have never met him [Miller] before, but I was really impressed with his performance,” Hill said. “I think [Miller] has a combination of things: talent, reading, practice, and in a spelling bee, luck,” Hill said.

Miller’s close friend, sophomore Sam Linder, was amazed by Miller’s success and actually was unaware of his spelling talent before the Spelling Bee.

“After the Spelling Bee, everyone in the DaVinci class was asking Cam to spell these crazy words and he got them right,” Linder said.

Sophomore Thomas Blum, another close friend of Miller’s, said that this was not his first time seeing Miller succeed in a school competition. In fact, Miller defeated Blum in the school Geography Bee when they were in sixth grade.

“The skills required for the geobee is very similar to the skills you need for the Spelling Bee,” Blum said. Blum attributes Miller’s successes to his constant desire to improve.

“[Miller] is dedicated to getting better at things all the time,” Blum said.