SACRAMENTO, CA (MPG) - It is no surprise that a young student who actually likes to read the dictionary for fun came within a single word of advancing to this year’s National Spelling Bee. Meet Mickayla Brown, a sixth grader from Matsuyama Elementary School. She is a 2x School Champion and has been a finalist in her school’s spelling bee program since her first try, as a second grader. 

Mickayla is the youngest of three siblings, and has always been ahead of her peers academically, though her mom, Michele, says she was slower to read than her sister Ava and brother Lucas. When schools were shut down during the pandemic, Mickayla buried herself in books from the library, and her reading skills skyrocketed. She also benefited from listening in on Ava and Lucas’ classes and trying to do their school work, too. “She’s always challenged herself to learn stuff above her grade level,” says Michele. “Spelling comes easily for her, since she loves reading and discovering new words.” 

All students entered in the Matsuyama school bee were given a study list of about 600 words and Mickayla devoted a lot of her recess and lunch time to having her friends quiz her on words from the list. “Mickayla is already so smart and a really hard worker, but I still tried to help her,” said her friend Jaanvi Raj. “But honestly, she doesn’t even need to study, she already knew, like every word!”

Mickayla did admit to prioritizing her Bee preparation over schoolwork last year, as a fifth grader. “I spent so much time studying my word list that I forgot about an entire 5-paragraph essay that was due. I wrote it in one night, but it wasn’t my best work,” she said. 

Fortunately for Mickayla, she still achieved top grades, and the Bee has taught her to manage her time better, which she will need for middle school. She’ll be attending Miwok Middle School in the fall, where she hopes to place first in their school bee and advance to nationals. 

This year, the Terrell Christopher Gladney (TCG) Memorial Academy Foundation hosted the Capital Spelling Bee and District Bee that supported 3 individual spellers to advance to the national level competition in Washington DC. They also sponsored the enrollment of over 20 area schools into the Scripps Spelling Bee program, which is about $200 per school. “It was a pleasant surprise to have our school’s enrollment fee paid for this year,” said Matsuyama spelling bee coordinator Sue Ping Jiang. “Mr. Gladney and his team see the value and importance of hosting a spelling bee and want to share it with other schools. It gives students a chance to compete in something other than sports and it really supports the school’s goals of fostering literacy, language and love of reading.”

Mickayla did admit to prioritizing her Bee preparation over school work last year, as a fifth grader.

“I spent so much time studying my word list that I forgot about an entire 5-paragraph essay that was due. I wrote it in one night, but it wasn’t my best work,” she said. Fortunately for Mickayla, she still achieved top grades and the Bee has taught her to manage her time better, which she will need for middle school. She’ll be attending Miwok Middle School in the fall, where she hopes to place first in their school bee and advance to nationals.

This year, the Terrell Christopher Gladney (TCG) Memorial Academy Foundation hosted the Capital Spelling Bee and District Bee that supported 3 individual spellers to advance to the national level competition in Washington DC. They also sponsored the enrollment of over 20 area schools into the Scripps Spelling Bee program, which is about $200 per school.

“It was a pleasant surprise to have our school’s enrollment fee paid for this year,” said Matsuyama spelling bee coordinator Sue Ping Jiang. “Mr. Gladney and his team see the value and importance of hosting a spelling bee and want to share it with other schools. It gives students a chance to compete in something other than sports and it really supports the school’s goals of fostering literacy, language and love of reading.”

Jiang brought the Spelling Bee program to Matsuyama in 2018 and has seen it grow year after year. “It’s an old-school tradition that the students, their parents and all the teachers just really love.” She remembers young Mickayla competing in the Bee as a second grader, one of the youngest and smallest students there, tagging alongside her older sister Ava. “She was so nervous and so serious but she did extremely well. Now she is much more confident in herself, and she’s one of the brightest, most well-rounded students I’ve ever met.”

Mickayla’s teacher, Ms. Rachelle Gray, echoed those sentiments. “She has great study habits and is such a hard worker, always going above and beyond what an assignment calls for. Some classmates would find that kind of overachievement to be unbearable, but in Mickayla’s case, she is so well-liked that her drive and perseverance really inspires everyone around her.”

This year, Mickayla’s winning word at the School finals was “claustrophobia,” which came in the 9th round of competition. The school runner-up was Lilah Walters, a 4th grader, who is already busy preparing for next year’s Bee. A special award was given to Tegan Kayatta, a 3rd grader, who was the youngest finalist in the School Bee. While Mickayla had the support of the entire school behind her as she competed at the next level, they will be relieved that Mickayla is moving on to middle school, as she has dominated the school spelling bee for the past 3 years.

Next year, Matsuyama will finally have a new school c–h-a-m-p-i-o-n. We wish Mickayla and all the young spellers good luck as they advance towards their goal of making it to the National Spelling Bee in W-a-s-h-i-n-g-t-o-n D.C!