Area fourth grader Colby Ramirez was crowned champion of the National Prescription Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C. Friday.
The annual contest allows elementary and middle schoolers to show off their curiously specific knowledge of medication names. Co-sponsored by Pfizer and Scholastic, this year’s finals hosted 50 of the nation’s most precocious, medically-complex children.
Ramirez gave a perfect performance over 25 rounds, successfully spelling increasingly difficult medications. The winning word? Dexmethylphenidate.
“In the typical English vocabulary, words follow certain linguistic patterns, drawing from Latin, German, and other languages,” said Ramirez during his post-match celebration at a nearby Baskin-Robbins. “Medications, however, take linguistic influence from the nonsensical whims of Big Pharma marketers, and are spelled with whatever jumble of indecipherable letters will draw the most attention in commercials.”
Ramirez prepared by memorizing a list of over 500 medications, from over the counter to brand name. He lives with several chronic health conditions, and has long taken an interest in the complex art of medical linguistics.
“I’m so proud that all the time Colby has spent in and out of doctors’ offices trying countless medications has a silver lining,” said the winner’s mother, pharmacy technician Maria Ramirez. “And I’m glad his obsession with prescription medications has evolved into this and not something weirder.”
For his first-place win, Ramirez was awarded a lifetime supply of Eli Lilly products and a cash prize of $50,000. With his grand prize, the 9-year-old is excited to pay off almost half of his medical debt.