Santa Barbara County Spelling Champs Advance

At the Santa Barbara County Spelling Bee last month, four students earned invitations to the statewide competition coming up in May. At the elementary school level, Vieja Valley School 6th grader Aidan Garard (top center) took first place by correctly spelling “cuckoo.” Second place went to Kellogg School 6th grader Keaton Cross (top right) for “coalesce.” Isla Vista School 6th grader Daniel Nickolov (top left) finished in third; his word was “alliance.” As the top-two finishers, Garard and Cross have been invited to the state comp in Stockton on May 13 at the San Joaquin County Office of Education.

In the junior high division, La Colina Junior High School 8th grader Tyler Norman (bottom center) spelled “bailiff” for the win. Laguna Blanca School 8th grader Emily Donelan (bottom right) took second with “aquiline.” Goleta Valley Junior High 8th grader Shio Chiba (bottom left) rounded out the podium in third; her correctly spelled word was “paradisiacal.” Norman and Donelan advance to the state event in San Rafael on May 6 at Miller Creek Middle School.