This 13-year-old will represent Arizona at national Spelling Bee. See the winning word

Volemic. That was the winning word at the 2024 Arizona Spelling Bee final, which handed an eighth-grader the championship trophy on Saturday in Phoenix.

Aliyah Alpert, a 13-year-old homeschool student, spelled her way through a crowd of more than 500,000 Arizona students to clinch the top prize at the finals.

The Spelling Bee process begins at the classroom level and progresses to grade-level competitions, schoolwide and then district level, according to the Arizona Educational Foundation.

It was a tense final at the Madison Center for Arts in Phoenix, in which each attempt was followed by either silence from the pronouncer which meant a speller passed to the next stage or the dreaded bell signifying a speller was incorrect and had to leave the competition.

Only Aliyah and Isabelle Garcia, a seventh-grader from the Kyrene del Pueblo Middle School, made it to the 35th round.

Garcia lost out to Aliyah after misspelling "withies."

Aliyah emerged as champion from among the state’s top 28 spellers from grades 3 through 8. She owed her victory to more than four hours of daily practice and mastering more than 4,000 words.

She also credited her supportive parents and a spelling coach who kept her on track with becoming champion.

It was her second win out of four attempts. She was the champion of the 2022 Arizona Spelling Bee.

“It feels better to win now,” she said. “It is my last year of eligibility.”

Students are not able to compete beyond the age of 14.

“I participated in a homeschool spelling bee when I was six and I got hooked,” Aliyah said. But this champion is not just about spelling, she also plays the violin.

Aliyah’s father, Mark, said being homeschooled helped her in terms of timing flexibility but that it was ultimately a challenge for her to practice rigorously for the competition.

“She is naturally interested in all kinds of things,” he said. “She likes to win but if you asked her, she would likely not say she had fun practicing like other kids might say.”

Garcia did not think she would get very far in the finals. She described her second place as an amazement.

She had competed once before and only got to the district level.

“I have always been interested in words but my first participation kept me interested,” she said.

Both girls went home with an $800 check each and dictionaries. The money will be spent during their trip to the 2024 Scripps National Spelling Bees in Washington D.C. in May. Both students will represent Arizona at the event.

The Arizona Spelling Bee started in 2011.

“Literacy is important, and spelling is necessary for literacy,” Arizona Educational Foundation Deputy Director, Dr. Teresa Hill said.

She said the foundation the competition lays for participants usually positions them for better academic opportunities, making the Spelling Bee an important event for Arizona schools.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: These Arizona students are going to 2024 Scripps National Spelling Bee