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Jurupa Unified student wins state Spelling Bee
Brandon Whitehead, a fifth-grader at Camino Real Elementary School in Pedley, has won California State Elementary Spelling Bee May 19 at Sonoma State University.
The state spelling competition was completed in 13 rounds. Whitehead won the top prize by correctly spelling archetype, then boisterous. He received a trophy and a $1,000 U.S. Savings Bond. His school will receive a wall clock commemorating his achievement.
He will represent Riverside County at the 80th Annual Scripps National Spelling Bee, May 30-31 in Washington D.C., facing 250 top spellers from the country.
Whitehead won the 30th Annual Riverside County Spelling Bee on March 28 by correctly spelling the word “preparate” (meaning prepared or ready) in the 18th round.
Whitehead, from the Jurupa Unified School District, finished second in last year’s Spelling Bee.
The state competition drew 60 of the state’s top elementary school spellers. These students, representing 32 California counties, had already won school, region, and county spelling bees. Each county’s first and second place spellers were eligible to compete in this state event coordinated by the Sonoma County Office of Education.
Alameda County’s Neethi Bangalore, a sixth-grader from Thomas Hart School, earned the second place trophy and a $500 U.S. Savings Bond. Sixth-grader Rishika Singh, from Santa Barbara County’s Kellogg Elementary School, was awarded third place and a $250 U.S. Savings Bond.
Quinn Hensley, a fourth-grader from Washington Elementary School in Santa Barbara County, placed fourth; Danny Cassee, a fourth-grader Olive Elementary School in Marin County, placed fifth; and sixth-grader Ellie Ehlert, from West Cottonwood Junior High School in Shasta County, earned sixth place. These students each received a trophy and $100 Savings Bond.
The competition was held at Person Theatre on the Sonoma State University campus in Rohnert Park. The Monterey Bay Aquarium was this year’s partner agency. The event featured under-the-sea decorations and included a virtual tour of the Aquarium.
For information contact:
Rick Peoples,
Public Information Officer
Telephone: (951) 826-6642
Fax: (951) 826-6199
rpeoples@rcoe.us
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