Coureur says Scripps National Spelling Bee was ‘nice experience’

ST. THOMAS — The winning streak for Shadya Coureur, the 13-year-old Free Will Baptist eighth-grader representing the Virgin Islands at the Scripps National Spelling Bee competition, came to an early halt, but the experience is for a lifetime.

Harini Logan of San Antonio, Texas, was named the 2022 Scripps National Spelling Bee champion Thursday night.

Coureur was among 234 spellers kicking off the 94th annual Scripps National Spelling Bee at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center at National Harbor outside Washington, D.C. two days earlier, but did not advance from the preliminary round after misspelling “Huallaga.”

Standing in front of a microphone on Tuesday, wearing a blue T-shirt, black slacks and identified as No. 217, the pronouncer described that Huallaga was a 700-mile-long river in North Central Peru. After asking for the origin of the word, and asking twice to repeat the pronunciation, Coureur spelled: H-u-a-y-a-g-a.

The bell went off, signaling it was incorrect. She let out a nervous giggle before flashing brief disappointment, then smiled and said “thank you” prior to her exit.

The moment was caught on video by St. Croix Superintendent of Schools Carla Bastian, who along with Free Will Baptist School Principal Hannah Postlewaite is accompanying Coureur. Her chaperone and mother, Suada Ali-Coureur, also made the trip.

“She was a bit overwhelmed, and at the same time she was excited and nervous,” Ali-Coureur said Thursday evening, the last day of the spelling competition. “She was disappointed she missed the word, but taking it in a positive way.”