03/19/2015 -
The Sonoma County Office of Education held its annual countywide spelling competitions this week. Awards were given to the top four spellers at both the elementary and junior high events.
Elementary Spelling Competition: Fourth-, fifth-, and sixth-grade spellers competed in the annual Elementary Spelling Competition on March 16. The 17 participating students had previously won school and regional spelling bees, which made them eligible to compete for the title of county spelling champion.
Fiona Sweet, a sixth-grader from Strawberry School in Santa Rosa, won first in the competition. She broke the tie in the 15th round by spelling “sitzmark” correctly, then spelling “parochial” to win the event.
Second place went to sixth-grader Varnika Kailash, who attends Santa Rosa Accelerated Charter School. Fifth-grader Andy Gao, from Sonoma Country Day School, took third place and Saki Burns, a sixth-grader from Windsor Middle School, earned the fourth-place award.
Junior High Spelling Competition: Thirty-six students competed in the 2015 Sonoma County Junior High Spelling Competition on March 17. These grade 7-9 students had previously won school-level spelling bees to qualify for the countywide competition.
Jonah Hatt, an eighth-grader from Guerneville School, won the competition. Jonah broke the tie in the 14th round by spelling “enforceable” correctly, then spelling “audacity” to win the event.
Second place went to Cayden Lehr, an eighth-grader at Windsor Christian Academy. Seventh-grader Wayne Heron, from Salmon Creek Charter School in Occidental, took third place and classmate Paola Aldana, also a seventh-grader at Salmon Creek, earned the fourth-place award.
Advancing to the State Championships: The top two spellers in each competition are eligible to advance to the statewide championship for their grade level. The 2015 California State Elementary Spelling Championship will be held on April 18 in Stockton and the 2015 California State Junior High Spelling Championship will take place in San Rafael on May 2.
See also: News Release, with place standings for all students
