GPS is Abuzz After the Annual District Spelling Bee
GPS is Abuzz After the Annual District Spelling Bee
Hailey Borden
This year’s Spelling Bee was electrifying! Elementary and junior high students from schools across the district wowed the audience at Campo Verde High last Thursday, January 23rd for the Annual District Spelling Bee.
Eager students sat front and center onstage ahead of the yellow Spelling Bee backdrop, awaiting their turn to showcase their spelling prowess. Each participant studied hard to prepare themselves for the competition, understanding spelling bee rules and learning new words in an attempt to come out on top.
And it showed! The spellers went 20 rounds and the winning word was “trudged.” Other exciting words included: deliquesce, chevalier, penitentiary, crepuscular, and netiquette.
“The words were very challenging this year,” says Kelly Morgan, Spelling Bee organizer and Gilbert Elementary Media Specialist. “Our top two spellers were so good that we had to go to extra, random words from The Merriam-Webster Dictionary in the final rounds.”
Toward the end of the competition, the Spelling Bee judges asked the audience if they had learned any words they’d never heard before: the answer was a resounding yes.
Our GPS spellers proved hard work and studying pays off.
In the winning picture from left to right pictured:
- Tom Sollis, Meridian Elementary - 4th place
- Maggie Hammer, Highland Park Elementary - 5th place
- Eleanor Davis, Highland Junior High - 8th place
- Vaishnavi Shah, Gilbert Classical Academy - 2nd place
- Lauren Aguilar, Gilbert Elementary - 1st place
- Jonah Webb, Superstition Springs Elementary - 7th place
- Joshua Mantanona, Desert Ridge Junior High - 6th place
- Austin Richards, Patterson Elementary - 3rd place
Some familiar faces from past spelling bees were also spotted. This year’s winner, Lauren Aguilar from Gilbert Elementary, placed 3rd in last year’s bee.
Congratulations to all the spellers and winners! Gilbert Public Schools is proud of the work each student has put in to compete so well.
The eight GPS finalists will now head to the Region 6 Spelling Bee on Wednesday, February 12th, 2025 at the Chandler Center for the Performing Arts. Two winners from that event will go to the state level in March, and the winner will compete in May at the 100th Anniversary of the Scripps National Spelling Bee.