{"id":99276,"date":"2025-07-28T11:52:16","date_gmt":"2025-07-28T11:52:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/99276\/"},"modified":"2025-07-28T11:52:16","modified_gmt":"2025-07-28T11:52:16","slug":"fort-worth-girl-reigns-as-national-spanish-spelling-bees-la-vencedora","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/99276\/","title":{"rendered":"Fort Worth girl reigns as National Spanish Spelling Bee\u2019s \u2018la vencedora\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Melody Hinkle stood on stage, patiently awaiting the final word after 24 rounds. She started the competition spelling pudrido and had just spelled un\u00edvoca correctly. Melody was about to receive the word that would win her the National Spanish Spelling Bee<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe word is: t\u00e1cito,\u201d the presenter said in Spanish.<\/p>\n

The 12-year-old, a student in White Settlement ISD, took her time. She asked for the definition. She asked the presenter to use the word in a sentence. Finally, she lifted up her clipboard and spelled out the final word, including the accent on the \u201ca.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cT\u00e1cito,\u201d she said. \u201cT-\u00c1 con acento-C-I-T-O.\u201d <\/p>\n

The Education Lab<\/p>\n

Receive our in-depth coverage of education issues and stories that affect North Texans.<\/p>\n

The room erupted in cheers. Melody had won the National Spanish Spelling Bee of 2025. <\/p>\n

\"MelodyMelody Hinkle celebrating her win with other contestants and facilitators at the National Spanish Spelling Bee.(Photo courtesy of the National Spanish Spelling Bee)<\/p>\n

Melody beat 34 contestants across the United States on July 12 in Albuquerque, N.M., for the trophy and $4,000 prize.<\/p>\n

The seventh grader from North Texas had finished second at last year\u2019s competition. <\/p>\n

Still, Melody said she didn\u2019t expect to win. She scored seventh in the state competition this year, much lower than she expected, so she said her main goal was to improve in the competition, celebrating the language she\u2019s come to love.<\/p>\n

Melody\u2019s Spanish journey began in the third grade, when White Settlement ISD began offering dual-language courses. <\/p>\n

After excelling in the program, she was chosen to compete in Spanish spelling bee competitions.<\/p>\n

Melody said that after competing for the first time, her love of the language continued to grow. Her favorite Spanish word to spell is \u201chipopotomonstrosesquipedaliofobia,\u201d which refers to the fear of long words. <\/p>\n

\u201cI like how [Spanish] is spelled, how it\u2019s pronounced most of the time,\u201d Melody said. \u201cWhereas in English, it\u2019s like any letter can really be silent, and usually it isn\u2019t spelled how it\u2019s pronounced.\u201d<\/p>\n

For this year\u2019s competition, Melody had to balance dance and band practice with her spelling bee practice. She dedicated two hours a day to learning 200 to 500 new words. In total, Melody learned and memorized how to spell 4,000 Spanish words. <\/p>\n

\u201cI was just proud,\u201d Melody\u2019s mom, Amy Hinkle, said. \u201cI mean, none of us speak Spanish at home, so it was hard for me to help her. … I can\u2019t just go down the word list and say the word. I have to put it in Google Translate, and then whenever she spells it, she has to spell it in English, because I don\u2019t know the letters. So it\u2019s even harder for her to practice.\u201d <\/p>\n

Melody also had the help of her coach, Eva Valenzuela, the dual-language coordinator for White Settlement ISD.<\/p>\n

Related:Here\u2019s when school is starting after the summer break<\/a><\/p>\n

Valenzuela said that the year prior, Melody and other contestants were hit with surprise words. This left many contestants struggling. Melody\u2019s main focus this year was to practice possible \u201cmystery words.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cShe has an amazing little brain that is able to memorize and analyze words<\/a>. And she\u2019s really, really smart,\u201d Valenzuela said. \u201c[But] her success is because of her hard work.\u201d <\/p>\n

Valenzuela said that when other kids might have been at the zoo or the hotel pool during the trip to the competition, Melody dedicated her off time to studying. Whether it was on the plane or on the ride to the competition, she was studying. <\/p>\n

\u201cShe put so many hours of work and dedication that that\u2019s why she won, and she deserves it,\u201d Valenzuela said. <\/p>\n

\"MelodyMelody Hinkle posing for a photo with her family after winning the National Spanish Spelling Bee.(Photo courtesy of the National Spanish Spelling Bee)<\/p>\n

Melody has now taken a test to qualify for Pre-AP Spanish, a high school-level course, and has put her winning funds into a college savings account. <\/p>\n

And as for next year\u2019s National Spanish Spelling Bee, she looks forward to returning and defending her title. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Melody Hinkle stood on stage, patiently awaiting the final word after 24 rounds. She started the competition spelling…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":99277,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5138],"tags":[5229,407,3553,7371,7372,35347,358,3187,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-99276","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fort-worth","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-education","10":"tag-feature","11":"tag-fort-worth","12":"tag-fortworth","13":"tag-hispanic-dfw","14":"tag-texas","15":"tag-tx","16":"tag-united-states","17":"tag-united-states-of-america","18":"tag-unitedstates","19":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","20":"tag-us","21":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114930723428780741","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99276","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=99276"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99276\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/99277"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=99276"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=99276"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=99276"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}