D-A-C-H-S-H-U-N-D Brings Spelling Bee Champ To Tears

Meet 14-year-old, eighth-grader Briuana Green of Forrest City, Arkansas.  She was left to compete with one other contestant in her local Spelling Bee on Saturday when you know what word showed up for her to spell correctly:  Dachshund - a feat most adults can't even do!  Excerpt from The Commercial Appeal:

Always smiling, Briuana wrote her words with her right finger onto her palm. At times, she shook her head and rewrote the word before spelling such words as "archipelago" (cluster of islands) and "kibei" (child of Japanese immigrant parents born in the Americas) out loud.

Pronouncer Irwin Cantor gave Briuana "dachshund." Giving her the definition, the origin and a sentence didn't help. She furrowed her brows. "DOCK-SIN?" Briuana asked hesitantly as she tried to pronounce the word.

"No. DOCK-SON, " Cantor replied. The judges sitting at the table also pronounced the word. After Briuana repeatedly stumbled on it, Cantor finally said, "Ma'am, we pronounced the word for you. If you are unable to pronounce it correctly, we can't control that."

After spelling it correctly, she turned to stand by her chair. Covering her face, she silently burst into tears.

We're happy to report that Miss Green won the competion after the other contestant missed her next word, and Miss Green then went on to spell "comandante" correctly.  She will now compete with more than 200 other spellers in the Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee contest in Washington on June 2-4.  Way to Go Briuana!  We're rooting for you!  Read more at The Commercial Appeal.