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Val Verde eighth grader wins 32nd Annual Riverside County Spelling Bee
Paul Uzzo, an eighth-grader from Vista Verde Middle School in the Val Verde Unified School District, won the 32nd Annual Riverside County Spelling Bee on March 11 by correctly spelling the word “nugacious” and then “metanoia” in the 21st Round.
The competition for the overall winner among 30 students, each of whom had won their local district spelling bee, lasted more than three hours in the Moreno Valley Conference and Recreation Center.
Uzzo, who competed two years ago in the Riverside County Spelling Bee, will represent Riverside County at the 81st Annual Scripps National Spelling Bee May 28-29 in Washington D.C., facing 250 top spellers from across the country.
“I’m going to Washington D.C.?” Uzzo asked after the competition. “That’s so great.”
Jerynne Noble, an eighth-grader from Boulder Ridge Middle School in the Romoland School District, placed second. Ramakrishnan Kumaran, a seventh-grader from Acacia Middle School in the Hemet Unified School District, and Alice Bello, an eighth-grader from San Gorgonio Middle School in the Beaumont Unified School District, tied for third place.
The top two elementary school spellers will represent Riverside County at the California State Elementary Spelling Bee on May 16 in Sonoma – Christian Kontaxis, a fourth grader at St. Margaret’s Episcopal School in Palm Desert and Jessica Khalili, a sixth-grader at Susan B. Anthony Elementary School in the Corona-Norco Unified School District.
The Spelling Bee is sponsored by the Riverside County Office of Education and The Press-Enterprise Newspaper.
For information contact:
Rick Peoples,
Public Information Officer
Telephone: (951) 826-6642
Fax: (951) 826-6199
rpeoples@rcoe.us
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