Peoria speller definitely has 'modest' down
Kyle Mou embarrassed by the attention after eighth-place finish in national spelling bee

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

By JENNIFER TOWERY
of THE JOURNAL STAR

PEORIA — Kyle Mou, the 12-year-old Peoria boy who wowed the community by finishing in eighth place at the Scripps National Spelling Bee last week, would like to set the record straight on a few things.

1. He's not all that into spelling, and certainly doesn't think of it as fun or anything resembling fun. Water guns - those are fun.

2. The celebratory reception that will be held for him at 10 this morning at Dunlap Middle School was not his idea.

3. The Dunlap Fire Department truck that will pick him up at his house and carry him off to the reception? Also not his idea.

Kyle, who had all the poise of someone twice his age on stage with television cameras rolling live, is seriously embarrassed by all the attention his spelling prowess is garnering. And he's a little surprised, seeing as he represented the community at the national bee last year and got not one reception or ride on an emergency vehicle.

"I don't want people to think I'm, like, bragging or anything," he said. "I think they're kind of overdoing it. It's really nice, though."

Kyle isn't particularly comfortable talking about his feat, let alone bragging about it. He did take the contest more seriously this time than he did last year, when he went out in the fourth round. But still . . .

"If there wasn't a spelling bee, I wouldn't study spelling," Kyle said. "I don't like spelling. I like the competition."

Kyle's middle school principal, Jason Holmes, said Kyle does love competition.

"He's very shy until you put words in front of him and ask him to spell them, and then he livens up quickly," Holmes said. "I think he likes the challenge of spelling words he's never heard of."

Kyle's parents, Ruby and Libin Mou, believe Kyle's humble nature actually helped him perform in Washington, D.C.

"He doesn't expect to win," Libin Mou said. "He doesn't put that huge pressure on himself, so he could relax."

The amount of tension among the spellers at the bee is unbelievable, they said. The day starts early and goes late, and emotions are stretched.

"Just sitting there watching, I felt exhausted," Ruby Mou said.

Kyle plans to enter his school's spelling bee next year as an eighth-grader. It would be his last chance to compete in the national bee, should he win the school, county and Grand Final bees again.

But there's always a chance his parents will find themselves in D.C. again beyond next year. Who knows? Maybe his brother, 7-year-old Timothy, will have an affinity for spelling.

And of course, one of his fellow contestants at the Peoria County bee this year was 10-year-old Sarah Mou - his little sister.

Jennifer Towery can be reached at 686-3119 or jtowery@pjstar.com.

Mou spells his way to semis
Dunlap boy gets further than he expected in national spelling competition, ties for 8th

Sunday, May 31, 2008

By JOE CRAWFORD AND ERIN WOOD
of THE JOURNAL STAR

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Dunlap seventh-grader Kyle Mou tied for eighth place in the 81st Scripps National Spelling Bee on Friday night after misspelling the word “lapies.”

Kyle correctly spelled “cryptarithm,” his first word of the final round and “trochiline” during the second round.

But he misspelled “lapies” during the third round, spelling it “lapiz.” Three other spellers also incorrectly spelled their words during the third round, forcing a tie for eighth.

Sameer Mishra of Lafayette, Ind., won the bee after correctly spelling “guerdon.” But Kyle is proud of his top-10 finish out of 288 spellers, the largest number to ever compete in the national spelling bee.

“I didn’t expect to get this far, so I’m happy,” he said in a phone interview with the Journal Star, which sponsored Kyle. “I’d never heard of that word. It didn’t sound hard, but it turned out hard.”

Kyle correctly spelled three words — “bulbul,” “tiqueur,” and “manege” — during the three rounds of the semifinals on Friday afternoon. He nailed each word without much hesitation, though unlike in previous rounds, he said none of them rang a bell.

“I hadn’t seen them before, and I didn’t really know them, but I just guessed,” he said. “It turns out they weren’t that hard to guess.”

Kyle’s appearance on national prime time television didn’t go unnoticed at Dunlap Middle School.

“We’re just glued to the (TV) set,” said Molly Kahn, assistant principal at Dunlap Middle School. “We’ve been avidly watching, holding our breaths and cheering. We’re so proud of him, he’s a hard-working, bright student.”

Kyle’s language arts teacher, Barbara Wickness, said he is a “voracious reader” who comprehends well above average for a 12-year-old.

“He’s very interested in words,” Wickness said. “He finds words fascinating.”
Kyle knows how to use many of the words in his vast vocabulary, not just spell them, she said.

“He could teach me a few things,” she said.

Jeanne Williamson, superintendent of Dunlap School District 323, said there would be a reception for Kyle when he returns from his trip. Exact plans have not yet been made for the celebration.

Kyle’s spelling journey began in fourth grade, when he took part in his first spelling bee. He said he became seriously interested in the competitions after he earned a trip to Washington, D.C., last year. But he missed a word in the quarterfinals and came in 60th.

In March the seventh-grader won the Grand Final Spelling Bee at WEEK-TV’s East Peoria studio, sending him on a second trip to the nation’s capital. And it may not be his last. Because he is a seventh-grader — one of just three seventh-graders who made it to the final round of the bee — Kyle could be eligible for a third trek to the national bee.

“I want to see if I can do better next year,” he said. “I guess I’ll keep on studying.”

Joe Crawford can be reached at 686-3251 or jcrawford@pjstar.com.
Erin Wood can be reached at 686-3194 or ewood@pjstar.com.

Dunlap speller earns repeat trip to national bee
Kyle Mou is JS Grand Final champ for 2nd straight year

Sunday, March 23, 2008

By Jennifer Towery
of THE JOURNAL STAR

EAST PEORIA - If there was one kid in the Grand Final Spelling Bee guaranteed to give returning champion speller Kyle Mou a run for his money, it was Christopher Shelor of Quincy.

Shelor last year went to the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C., representing a region that was folded into the Journal Star's spelling bee territory this year. The Grand Final Bee was taped at WEEK-TV's East Peoria studio and aired Saturday morning.

Fair fight though it may have been, Dunlap Middle School seventh-grader Mou prevailed, lasting 18 rounds to emerge the lone kid on that stage to earn a repeat trip to the National Spelling Bee.

The pair went seven rounds back and forth together before Christopher stumbled on "gourami," which means any of several small brightly colored Asian fishes often kept in the tropical aquarium.

Kyle easily spelled "wedel," a verb meaning to ski downhill by moving the rear of the skis from side to side in a series of short, quick turns. The German word is pronounced with a "v" sound.

Then he spelled "ocelot," a medium-sized American wildcat, to end the contest in 18 rounds.

Kyle won a healthy list of prize items and gift certificates donated by area businesses, but he made it clear he was most interested in winning another shot at the national bee.

"I'm pretty happy that I get to go back to Washington, D.C.," he said.

Last year, Kyle was among 106 of the 286 spellers to make it past the preliminary round at the National Spelling Bee. He tripped up on "illeist" in the fourth round, a respectable showing for a sixth-grader.

Kyle, the son of Ruby and Libin Mou of Dunlap, had practiced about half an hour a day most days in preparation for the Grand Final Spelling Bee this year.

He was confident he knew most of the words in the spelling list provided to all contenders by the Journal Star. That list alone might not get him very far in Washington, D.C., however.

"I think I'm going to study words that are outside of the spelling list now," Kyle said.

Christopher is an eighth-grader and won't be eligible to give the national bee another shot next year.

"I didn't make it past the preliminary round," he said of last year's bee. "The kids - they were really good spellers."

Isis Davis, an eighth-grader at Roosevelt Magnet School, finished third in the Grand Final Spelling Bee. She lasted nine rounds before missing "zwinger" in the 10th. The German word is pronounced "tsfinger."

The Scripps National Spelling Bee will be held May 29 and 30 in Washington, D.C.

Jennifer Towery can be reached at 686-3119 or jtowery@pjstar.com.

Dunlap kid spells out repeat
2007 winner will return to Grand Final Spelling Bee after winning Peoria County event again

Sunday, March 16, 2008

By Michael Smothers
of THE JOURNAL STAR

EAST PEORIA - A journalist's typical vocabulary might fall short of the words to best describe the contest Kyle Mou and William Offutt waged Friday, so we'll use theirs.

"Schadenfreude." "Tchotchke." "Muishond." "Hoomalimali." "Pfeffernuss." "Balalaika." "Baedeker." And, if you're getting an allergic reaction to all those gnarled consonants and vowels, "Gesundheit."

Young Kyle and William had no problem with those words. In fact, they shot them and many more at each other - many, many more - in what became a showdown at the Journal Star Peoria County Spelling Bee.

How many more? By the time the bee that featured 22 students ended, William and Kyle had battled each other word-for-word through 37 of the bee's 64 total rounds. That's 74 of the total 280 words the competition featured.

When the bee finally ended, Journal Star Newspaper in Education supervisor Heather Close told William, a sixth-grader from Mossville School, it was almost unfair to hand him the second-place plaque.

Once again, however, it was Kyle, winner of last year's Peoria County leg of the annual bee before taking top honors as well in the Central Illinois Grand Final Spelling Bee, who methodically outlasted his competition.

William finally tripped over "digitalis," leaving Kyle to close the battle down with "syncline," followed by "vacuole."

Now a seventh-grader at Dunlap Middle School, Kyle earned the right to compete in last year's Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C., and lasted into its fourth round.

If he competes as an eighth-grader in next year's Peoria County bee, he can expect to find not only William, a fifth-place finisher last year, waiting for him again, but someone even more familiar: his sister.

Sarah Mou, a fourth-grader from Wilder-Waite School, was among the bee's final four competitors before she exited in its 10th round, stumped by "poinsettia." Throughout the competition, however, she showed much of the same steady, thoughtful approach her older brother has mastered, even if she did have to climb on tip-toes to speak into the microphone.

Others among the two-hour bee's top five finishers were Christopher Zhang, in Banner Elementary School's fifth grade, and Christopher Chong, another fourth-grader from Ridgeview Elementary School.

While the Grand Final Spelling Bee also will be broadcast next Saturday morning on WEEK-TV, it will be taped in the station's studios Thursday, one day before Good Friday.

Michael Smothers can be reached at 686-3287 or msmothers@pjstar.com.