Going into the Vocabulary Bowl last year, no one could have predicted how seriously Obehi Obano would take word learning. A typical eighth grader, Obehi had to work extra hard in math to make the honor roll, and listed among her favorite activities hanging out with her friends, watching "Full House," and going to the beach.

But, when it came to word learning, "typical" Obehi was not. Playing Vocabulary.com over the course of the year, she mastered more than 5,000 words — that's more than 600 words per month, 150 per week, and an impressive 20 per day. After leading her school, Midlothian Middle, to a second-place finish in the 2014-2015 Vocabulary Bowl, Obehi said during the ceremony, "Vocabulary.com is my Twitter. It's going to get me into Harvard."

Thanks to the great enthusiasm for the Bowl in middle schools like Midlothian, the 2015-2016 Vocabulary Bowl will recognize both middle and high school champions at the end of the school year.

Here, she speaks with Vocabulary.com about what motivated her to excel. If you're signed up to play the Vocabulary Bowl this year, or just thinking about it, let her story serve as inspiration. 

Vocabulary.com: How did you get started using Vocabulary.com?

Obehi Obano: My English teacher introduced it the second week of school. She put it on our Chromebooks, and the first time I played it I didn’t like it. To me it was just work. I didn’t understand how it worked. Our teacher told us we had to earn 10,000 points at the end of the week and I barely managed to get there.

VC: So what changed?

OO: When I saw I was in the top ten, that convinced me to play more. And then I was number three or two.

VC: Do you remember when you first hit number one?

OO: There was this one day when I was sitting there doing Vocabulary.com and there was this other guy who I was switching off first place with. I was constantly playing for an hour. He was outside with his friend, and I reached number one. The next day at school I was bragging! I got my first one million points that October.

VC: Did you play only at school?

OO: I like to play in my room at home. There’s a spot where I always do my homework near the door on the ground. I got a cell phone in December. That helped.

VC: How long do you play?

OO: I’m guessing about an hour a night. It’s kind of unpredictable.

VC: How did you decide which words to learn?

OO: In English class my teacher gave us assignments to complete a list, and she gave us a grade based on the mastery score. I always got 100. We were also learning a 100-word list and a 1000-word lists that wasn’t required. Then, I would just play the words the game gave me, and I started to make lists. I would do a list for the time of year.

VC: Are you finding the words you learn to be useful?

OO: I was in the spelling bee and some of the words I saw I didn’t even know, but at least three were words I’d learned on Vocabulary.com

VC: What kept you going, day after day?

OO: When I just started, what kept me going was being at the top of everyone. But then, I just started to like it. I felt like I was getting smarter and having fun. I liked being recognized in the announcements: How many words I mastered, what lists I mastered.

VC: So, what's it like at the top?

OO: The school said they wanted to have a meeting with me. I went to the school board. They called us up to the front. I was on a large TV. They mentioned how we were the top three in Polk county. They mentioned our names and gave us little key holders. My mom was very proud at the assembly [when Midlothian was honored for its second place finish].

VC: Do you have a favorite word?

OO: Extraordinary. I like the word because during the assembly [Ruby Peters, an account representative] from Vocabulary.com said that I’m extraordinary, so after that day ended I was just thinking about that word for the rest of the day. The word has a big meaning. It means "special."