Let me spell it out for you

Danette Goulet

NEWPORT-MESA -- Tensions were high Wednesday morning as students from

across the district competed for the spelling bee titles.

Each elementary school sent one to two students from the fourth, fifth

and sixth grades to compete in districtwide spelling bees.

“My mom says I’m a natural speller,” said 9-year-old Joseph Ludlow.

Joseph was the fourth-grade spelling bee contender from Adams Elementary

School, but he was tripped up during the second round by the word

“benefactor.”

He had made the first cut of the competition -- a 20-word written

competition -- and was one of 11 fourth-graders to advance to the oral

round.

“I studied every night and my mom quizzed me on some words,” he said.

“And my principal quizzed me, too.”

Colton Dillion from Andersen Elementary School said he studied 10 pages a

night for the last month and a half. Colton made a good run until he

stumbled on the word “denominator.”

“Everyone else got all the easy ones,” Colton said.

While the fourth-graders were sweating it out at Victoria Elementary

School, the fifth-graders were struggling over at Kaiser Elementary

School.

“It was the longest spelling bee we’ve ever had,” said Daryle Palmer,

principal at Kaiser. “Brooke Sharp and Tiffany Liu went for about 25

words -- just the two of them. It was amazing.”

In the end, Tiffany was the victor. But it is only Hong An Nguyen, the

sixth-grade champion from Davis Elementary School, who will move on to

the Orange County competition.

Hong will be spelling against the best sixth-grade spellers of each

district in Orange County on March 2.

WINNERS

Fourth Grade

1st place -- Ben Kane, Kaiser

2nd place -- Andrew Watt, Eastbluff

Fifth Grade

1st place -- Tiffany Liu, Eastbluff

2nd place -- Brooke Sharp, Newport

Sixth Grade

1st place -- Hong An Nguyen, Davis

2nd place -- Sara Salam, Eastbluff

STUMPERS

Here are some of the words from the fourth-grade spelling bee:

denominator

apostrophe capitalism

authentic

desirable

erroneous

certificate

alliance

complexion

tutelage

* In the final round, “residence” was spelled correctly and

“accelerator” was misspelled.