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Romoland Eighth-Grader Wins Spelling Bee
Austin Pineda, an eighth-grader from Boulder Ridge Middle School in the Romoland School District, won the 31st Annual Riverside County Spelling Bee on March 19 by correctly spelling the word “flexuosity” and then “fruticose” in the 16th round.
The competition for the overall winner among 27 students, each of whom had won their local district's spelling bee, lasted more than three hours in the Moreno Valley Conference and Recreation Center.
Pineda, competing in his fifth and last Bee, will represent Riverside County at the 81st Annual Scripps National Spelling Bee May 29-30 in Washington D.C., facing 250 top spellers from the country. He placed third in last year’s Bee.
Second-place finisher Rachel Okey, an eighth-grader from the Temecula-based River Springs Charter School and first-time Bee contestant, will be the alternate.
Following the selection of the overall winner, the competition continued until the 26th Round and another hour to select two contestants among fourth-sixth-graders to represent the county at the 2008 State Elementary Spelling Bee May 17 at Sonoma State University. Ramakrishnan Kumaran, a sixth-grader from Acacia Middle School in the Hemet Unified School District, and Raymond Galloway, a fifth-grader at Lasselle Elementary School in the Val Verde Unified School District, won those spots.
2008 Riverside County Spelling Bee:
Winner: Austin Pineda, eighth grade student at Boulder Ridge Middle School in the Romoland School District
Alternate: Rachel Okey, eighth grade, River Springs Charter School, Temecula
Third place: Gleveen McBeth, eighth grade, Villegas Middle School in the Alvord Unified School District.
Fourth place: Ramakrishnan Kumaran, sixth grade, Acacia Middle School, in the Hemet Unified School District.*
Fifth place: Raymond Galloway, fifth grade, Lasselle Elementary School in the Val Verde Unified School District.*
*Will represent Riverside County in the 2008 State Elementary Spelling Bee.
For information contact:
Rick Peoples,
Public Information Officer
Telephone: (951) 826-6642
Fax: (951) 826-6199
rpeoples@rcoe.us
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